Momswap
by webhead112233
Summary: "That's why the people of this world believe in, Jasper, Peridot, and Lapis, and Steven!" The story of SU told with a bit of a twist. I did not invent this AU and I have no idea who did, but I found the concept interesting and decided to try my hand at writing for it.
1. Chapter 1

**Rule number one: I will use female pronouns to refer to the gems, as they are canonically referred to with female pronouns and it has never once even been implied in the show that they're genderless. Let's face it, the gems are female, they're only called genderless so certain things can get passed the censors. Rule number two: I'm going to seriously nerf both Jasper and Lapis for this, for obvious reason. I'll also be scaling up Peridot. Rule number three: Yes, things are going to be changed around here and there. Yes the three homeworld gems do have direct parallels to the three crystal gems, but if a story calls for it, I could have the character standing in for Amethyst take the place of the one standing in for Garnet, as a random example. With that cleared up, let the story begin proper.**

* * *

Steven walked across to the street towards the beach. More specifically, he walked towards the trail leading to the giant statue carved into the cliff that overlooked the ocean. The statue was of a woman with eight arms stretching out away from her body, and two different faces, one looking out over the ocean, and one looking down over the entrance to the temple within.

It was within this temple that Steven lived, along with his family. At the moment, Steven was in a relatively bad mood, as his favorite snack food had been discontinued from the Big Donut, Steven's favorite place in Beach City to get a snack. He was hoping that his family could help cheer him up. Instead, when he opened the door, Steven was attacked by a giant bug.

Steven jumped in surprise, falling onto his back as the large, green, multi-legged monster crawled on top of him, its large jaws snapping at Steven and causing the green goo dripping from its fangs to splash across the floor, burning small holes wherever it landed.

Steven yelped in fear and tried to crawl back away from the gem monster, then sighed in relief when he saw two coils of water wrap around the bug monster and pull it off of him. "Sorry about that Steven," Lapis, a blue skinned, blue haired girl with a matching blue dress, said as the wings of water that sprouted from the tear drop gem on her back pulled the monster in and sent her flying against the room, "These Centipeetles got inside the house while we were out training."

"They were probably trying to get inside the Temple." Peridot, a tall, green-skinned woman with a large mess of yellow-green hair that formed a triangle, giving her the appearance of a oversized tortilla chip. She had a similar triangle shape on her forehead, though that was her gem, and her arms and legs were covered in green metal. Her fingers weren't even attached to her hand. The five light green cylinders that acted as Peridot's fingers usually hovered around her hands.

Now, though, one stood straight out, the other four tilting against it, a ball of energy forming around her hand and firing at the Centipeetle Lapis had thrown against the wall, causing it to vanish into thin air in a puff of green smoke.

"Um, guys, these things don't have any gems in them." Lapis pointed out, her wings lashing out to smack another Centipeetle out of the air before it could jump at Peridot, who had turned her hand cannon on another. Now that Steven looked around, he saw that there were quite a few of the gem monsters in his home, crawling and biting and spitting.

Among them was Jasper, the third of the gems. She was the tallest of all of them, standing at nearly seven feet tall with a heavily muscled, light orange body with long, white, semi-spiked hair flowing down from her head. In place of a nose, she had her own gem, and she wore her helmet, a large orange covering with a sledgehammer-like front for attacking.

All three of them were powerful, possibly the most powerful on the planet. Granted, aside from the mindless gem monsters, they were the only gems on the planet, but it still counted. Any one of them could defeat all the centipeetles in the house in one blow, Lapis with her control over all water, Peridot with her control over all metal, and Jasper with her pure strength. They only held back so they wouldn't damage the house.

"If they don't have gems, then they must not be the actual monster," Jasper said, picking one up and breaking it into two over her knee, causing it to poof as it separated into two, "These are just drones. The real gem monster must be somewhere outside the temple. We'll need to go find her after we finish off the drones."

"Can I help?" Steven asked excitedly as he watched Jasper slam her head down, the centipeetle it connected with poofing instantly. "It's probably best if you stay behind for now Steven," Lapis said, using her water wings to shield her body from the acid being spit at her as Peridot fired another blast, poofing the one spitting and two more with it.

"Lapis is right, you still don't have full control of your powers," Peridot said, "Or any control of any powers really." She said nonchalantly, not catching herself until she'd already said it and noticed Steven's face fall. "Steven, I only meant that-"

"You're powers will kick in sooner or later," Jasper said, "Just be patient, and wait here while we handle the missions for now. You'll be ready one day." Jasper, Peridot, and Lapis all went for the door to go searching for the real centipeetle.

Lapis, though, stopped for a moment at the door, "We'll help you with your powers later, right now, there's a surprise for you in the freezer." She said with a kind smile before leaving with the other two.

Steven smiled, glad he had the gems. Jasper didn't say much, but she almost always said the right thing when she did. Peridot said the wrong thing all the time, but she always meant well. At least, Steven thought she did. Lapis was definitely the easiest to get along with though.

Steven opened the freezer and looked inside, his eyes widening in surprise and excitement when he saw the frozen treats inside. Cookie Cats, his favorite snack. Steven wasn't sure how the gems had gotten so many, enough to almost entirely fill the freezer, but he wasn't about to question it when he could instead be eating.

He opened the snack and leaned back against the fridge as he started eating the cat shaped ice cream cookie. The snack helped Steven stop thinking about his lack of powers and ability to help his family fight the gem monsters, and he just relaxed as he continued to eat.

That is, he relaxed until he noticed the bright yellow light coming from underneath his shirt. Lifting it up in curiosity, Steven's eyes got even wider when he saw that his gem, a yellow citrine, had begun to light up the same way the other gem's did when they summoned their weapons.

"Oh man oh man oh man!" Steven said excitedly, practically jumping up and down in excitement as he watched the glow start to form something. Wanting the gems to see, he rushed outside after them, following the sounds of battle to the other side of the statue where he found the gems.

In front of them was another centipeetle, this one several times larger than any of the others, standing so tall that the three gems wouldn't match its height standing on top of each other. Lapis was holding it in place with a giant hand made out of water the was reaching out of the ocean, Peridot was charging up a powerful blast from her hand cannon, and Jasper was jumping up and headbutt the creature's head down so Peridot could finish it off.

Steven rushed forward, "Jasper, Lapis, Peridot, my gem is glowing!" He shouted excitedly. All three gems turned to look at Steven, seeing that his citrine gem had in fact lit up with yellow light. "Woah! Cool Steven!" Lapis said, the hand of water dropping as her focus dropped. The centipeetle hissed, spitting acid at Jasper. Peridot, panicking, fired her blast as Jasper so she wouldn't be in the way of the acid.

The centipeetle hissed loudly, crawling into the sand and tunnelling away before the gems could catch or follow it. Steven winced when he realized that he had just caused them to mess up the mission, and even worse, by the time they came over to him, his gem had stopped glowing.

"I-I'm sorry guys." Steven said, looking down as the gems approached. "Hey, it's okay Steven," Lapis said, "And besides, your gem was glowing! That's huge!" "As inconvenient as the timing was," Peridot said, "This is the first time your gem has ever reacted to anything. It was a logical choice to show us before it died back down."

Jasper nodded, "We'll get the centipeetle before it can cause too much damage. It wants in the temple, so it'll be back before it goes anywhere else. Peridot, any idea when she'll be back?"

Peridot held out her hand. Four of the fingers formed moved, forming the sides of a square and causing a sort of screen like a computer to form between them that she accessed with her one remaining finger. "According to her pattern, she won't be back until tomorrow. She's only attacked once per day since she appeared. We've got some time to prepare."

"And some time to help Steven with his gem." Lapis added, Steven smiling. Peridot grumbled slightly, but couldn't argue now that Steven was so excited, "Right, that to. Lapis, you talk to him first while I try to figure out where the centipeetle will attack from."

Lapis nodded, walking a little closer to the ocean to talk with Steven. "So, how did it feel when your gem started to glow? Like, what were you thinking about? Did you see anything forming?" Lapis asked.

"I was just eating a Cookie Cat and thinking about you guys." Steven said, not seeing how either of those could possibly trigger anything important like a gem weapon, "What's it like whenever you summon your weapon?"

"Well," Lapis said, her wings sprouting out from her gem, "It just sort of happens you know? I don't really think about it at all; it's like second nature. Same goes for controlling water. Nothing to it but to do it." She said, holding her hand out towards the water and causing a wave to hold perfectly still before jumping into the air and crashing down, splashing them both.

Steven laughed with Lapis as they began playing in the water, but he wasn't sure he quite understood what Lapis meant. How could do something without even thinking about it? It was so confusing, and only got more confusing when he talked to Peridot about it.

"My hand cannon isn't my gem weapon, just something I learned how to do," Peridot explained, "I don't really have a gem weapon. But I do have my metal powers, which have saved me numerous times in the field." She said.

"Cool, how does it work when you control metal and stuff?" Steven asked. "Well, it's a matter primarily of focus." Peridot said. "I focus on the metal I'm trying to control, on the enemy, on the other gems, on everything. I reached out with all of my senses and once and then," Peridot held her hand out and causing the fence that ran along the edge of the beach to curl up into a ball before straightening back out.

Steven understand what Peridot meant, but he wasn't sure he was even capable of focusing on one thing that closely, let alone everything. Not to mention that her and Peridot's advice seemed to contradict each other. More confused now than ever, he went to Jasper.

"How am I supposed to focus on everything and nothing at all at the same time?" Steven asked her. Jasper shrugged, "Maybe you shouldn't do either. Whenever I need to summon my weapon, I just think about what I need to do, why I'm doing it, and then," on cue, Jasper's orange helmet appeared.

"What it takes to summon a weapon or use powers can be different for every gem. I know you might be frustrated, but think of it this way: yesterday we didn't even know if you would ever have any powers. Now, we know you will. But you've gotta be strong and learn how to use them. Think you can do that?" Jasper questioned.

Steven nodded, "Yeah, I guess so. Thanks Jasper." Jasper nodded, "Let's head back to the house, it's starting to get dark out."

Steven and Jasper headed back for the house, only to hear a familiar high pitched hissing as they did. Looking up, they gasped when they saw that the centipeetle was back early, and was currently wrapped around that temple's statue, hissing down at them challengingly.

"Steven, go get Lapis and Peridot, hurry!" Jasper said, picking up Steven and chucking him back over the fence as she jumped at the centipeetle, her body forming a ball and spin dashing at the monster. Steven knew Jasper was strong, but there was no way she could handle a monster that size all on her own, not while she was right next to temple and wouldn't want to damage it.

He ran down towards the water where he knew Lapis would be, but stopped when he heard Jasper grunt in pain. The centipeetle had basically just knocked Jasper out of the air, causing her to crash down into the sand. The giant bug monster had hurled a rock down at her, trapping the large orange gem in place as she opened her large jaws, about to spray acid.

Now, Jasper might have been able to get up and avoid the massive wave of acid that was about to rain down on her long enough for Steven to go get Lapis and Peridot, but he was absolutely not about to risk it. Not with even a single member of his family in danger.

His gem began to glow again, though this time, he didn't even notice it as he ran back towards Jasper. "Steven, run!" She shouted as she tried to lift the boulder off of her. The rock was moving sure, Jasper was insanely strong, but it wouldn't be off of her in time to avoid the acid.

Steven kept running towards her, jumping in front of her as the acid came pouring down. He'd closed his eyes, not sure what he had been expecting to happen. But, to his surprise, he didn't die violently by acid melting.

"Steven...your weapon.." He heard Jasper say. Opening his eyes, Steven was shocked to see that he had blocked the acid, all of it, from touching himself or Jasper. In front of him was a large, round shield with a yellow citrine symbol in the center.

The centipeetle hissed in anger, but before it could attack again, a hand of water grabbed her and pulled her down to the ground where a fully charged blast from Peridot hit her. Jasper moved fast, jumping up and leaping off of Steven's shield for extra momentum before bringing her helmet down hard on the monster, causing it to poof in a cloud of green smoke.

A green orb-like gem fell to the ground. Jasper picked it up, a yellow bubble forming around it before Jasper tapped the top, causing it to vanish. "You did it!" Steven said excitedly, the shield vanishing. "We did it?" Lapis questioned, "Steven, what about you with that shield!"

Steven blinked, suddenly realizing that he'd actually done it, he'd summoned his shield. He held out his hand, trying to summon it again, but nothing, not even a glow. "It's okay Steven, you did incredible." Peridot said, "You saved me." Jasper said with a proud smile, "we just took care of the easy stuff."

Steven smiled, "I've got a shield.." He said to himself. It wasn't the weapon he had been expecting, but he couldn't imagine anything being a better weapon now. He wasn't sure why the three gems, especially Peridot, seemed so star eyed about it, but he figured they must just be really, really proud of his weapon.


	2. Chapter 2

Steven was outside on the beach, trying to practice summoning his shield. At least, that was what he told the gems as well as himself that he was there to do he knew full well he was actually there hoping to see that girl again… but hey, he could practice with his gem powers in the meantime. Two birds with one stone.

Unfortunately, he wasn't having much luck with either. His shield wasn't forming, and that girl hadn't shown up today either. Frustrated about both, Steven was about to head back inside of the temple, maybe another Cookie Cat would help him form his shield again he thought, when the sky turned a bright red.

Steven looked up in confusion, and gasped when he saw a giant red thing in the sky, blocking the sunlight. It looked like a large red orb, with a design forming the shape of an eye in the center of it, so large the design was even visible with how far away the thing was in the sky.

Steven ran to the house to get the gems, hoping they would understand what the thing in the sky was. He didn't find them in the house though, because they were already out looking up at the thing. He ran over to them, "Lapis, Jasper, Peridot, what's that thing in the sky?" He asked them.

"It's a Red Eye." Peridot said gravely, her tone alone letting Steven know that whatever that meant, it was not good. To explain better, Peridot formed her finger screen, displaying where the Red Eye was in the sky. "It's sort of like the monsters we fight, but it comes from out in space. It only has one directive. Lock onto its target and crash into it with enough kinetic energy behind it to send its target and everything else for miles to oblivion."

The finger screen displayed the Red Eye crashing down into the temple, and all of Beach City breaking up and falling away into the ocean. Steven gasped, and Lapis flicked one of Peridot's fingers out of place to kill the screen, "Are you trying to give him a heart attack?" Lapis questioned her, visibly upset by what she had shown him.

"What? We all know why that Red Eye is here. It isn't going to help anything to sugar coat it for Steven." Peridot said, though she seemed less sure of this when Jasper turned and glared down at her.

"Jasper, is that thing really going to crash into Beach City?" Steven asked. Jasper shook her head, "We aren't going to let it." Jasper said. "And how do you propose we stop it?" Peridot questioned, "Every other time this happened we had Citrine's cannon to…"

Peridot stopped mid-sentence, knowing her mistake without either of the gems needing to acknowledge it. She'd just broken the golden rule, she'd mentioned Citrine. Worse still, she'd mentioned her in front of Steven.

"Her...cannon?" Steven questioned. Steven didn't know a lot about his mother, just what his dad and the gems had been willing to tell him from time to time, how she had been a large, powerful gem, how she had saved the world with the others, how she was one of the kindest people in the world

But he had never heard anything about a cannon until now. Jasper sighed, seeing that the damage was done, "Your mother had a special cannon made specifically for situations like this. It fires light stronger than any weapon made on earth, stronger than any weapon made by us. It could take out a Red Eye with just one shot. But it's missing now… only she knew where it was. So we'll have to handle this ourselves. Lapis, throw me."

Jasper jumped into the ocean. As she did, Lapis controlled the water to form a large hand that threw Jasper up into the air. Jasper curled into her spinning dash attack and rocketed at the Red Eye. steven watched her soar up towards it, and smack against it harmlessly before falling off into the ocean.

Peridot formed her hand cannon and tried charging up a power shot to blast the Red Eye with, but if Jasper hadn't been able to break it, Steven wasn't sure she would either.

'Citrine's cannon…' "Maybe my dad knows something about it? He said mom told his all kinds of gem stuff back when she was around." Steven said. Peridot rolled her eyes at this, but simply said, "Sure, go check with Greg." if only to keep Steven preoccupied while she and the others handled the Red Eye.

Steven smiled excitedly, running off to go see his dad. Steven had never really understood why his dad didn't live at the temple, but he didn't really question it anymore. It was just how things were as far as he understood.

Steven ran up to the car wash, seeing his dad's van, a large, old vehicle that had been his dad's home for years now, and ran up to it. "Dad, there's a giant eye in the sky and we need a cannon to smash it up!" He shouted, knocking on the back door to the van. It wasn't the strangest thing he had shouted at his dad to wake him up, but perhaps the strangest that was true at the moment it was being said.

There were sounds of struggling from inside the van, his dad waking up in confusion from the noise, and then the back doors opened, Greg Universe stumbling out. He wasn't exactly a tall man, but he was large with what seemed to be a perpetual sun burn across his skin. He was bald on the top of his head, but had a long mane of hair going down from the back of his head.

"What's going on?" He asked groggily, his eyes widening when he looked up and saw the Red Eye, hearing the distant sound of a thud as Jasper collided with it and bounced off of it again. "Oh boy, more magical gem stuff?" He asked nervously.

Steven nodded, "The gems said they need mom's cannon to beat the Red Eye." He said, pointing up at the Red Eye. "Your mom's cannon…" Greg said, his expression going soft as he remembered back, "Man, I haven't seen that thing in ages, and I wouldn't even know how to use it if I found it."

"Come on dad, we gotta at least try." Steven said, "Beach City is gonna get smashed up if we don't." Greg sighed, "Well..I didn't exactly plan on spending my evening messing around with magical stuff, but you know what I always say, if every porkchop were perfect," "We wouldn't have hotdogs!" Steven finished the expression, Greg chuckling with a nod.

"Come on kiddo, if it's anywhere I know, it'll be at my old storage unit. She used to keep all kinds of stuff in there. Not sure why, she had a pretty awesome storage space of her own." Greg said as he got in the driver's seat. "She did? What was it?" Steven asked, getting inside the passenger's seat.

Greg chuckled, "I'll tell you about it later." He said, starting to drive off towards the storage units. As they drove, Steven looked out the window and saw the Red Eye. It was getting closer now, and was much bigger in sky now. It must have been at least the size of the temple statue Steven thought, and the eye...it made Steven uneasy, especially when he saw Jasper bounce off of it again followed by a charged shot from Peridot that did nothing.

Greg noticed Steven looking worried, "Hey, don't worry kiddo, your mother's cannon will get rid of that thing no problem. Citrine never let us down before.." he said, a somber smile on his face.

"What was mom like?" Steven asked. He had asked the question several times before and Greg was sure he would ask again later on. He didn't mind it. As painful as remembering her way, it sure beat the possibility of forgetting her.

"She was incredible. She was the strongest person I ever knew, even stronger than Jasper, Lapis, and Peridot." Greg said. "Even stronger than all of them combined?" Steven asked. Greg chuckled at this for reasons Steven didn't yet understand, "Well, not exactly," Greg said, "But they all followed her without question. As strong as she was, she was even smarter than she was powerful, and above all else, she was kind. She had everything kiddo, and when she formed you, all of that good stuff went right into you, with a little of me for the good hair." He chuckled, Steven laughing with him.

Soon, they arrived at the storage unit. Greg seemed nervous to actually open the thing up, and when he did, Steven saw why. The inside was a jungle of clutter, the likes of which even the bravest of explorers would be afraid to enter without a guide and a week's supplies.

But Steven didn't have a week, so he settled for Greg tying a rope around his waist so he could be pulled out if he got stuck inside or something. Steven crawled through the piled of old clothes, nicknacks, and merchandise from Greg's music career. "It's like a dad museum in here." He called back as he climbed deeper into the tunnel of nostalgia.

As he went, he found something that made him pause. It wasn't the cannon, far from it, but at the moment, it was just as interesting to Steven. It was a picture, wedged between an old mattress and a T-shirt shooter. It was a picture of Greg standing next to a tall woman with flowing yellow curls of hair. She wore a long white dress, with a small hole in the stomach to show her gem.

Citrine… Steven had seen her before, the gems had a painting of her above the doorway at the house, but this was an actually photo of her, her face in a wide open smile as she was caught mid-laughing fit from whatever joke Greg had just told her.

"Steven, you okay in there?" Greg called. "Y-yeah, sorry dad." Steven said, getting back on track. His eyes lingered on the picture for awhile longer before he moved on deeper into the storage space, trying to find the cannon.

Said cannon was found a few moments later when his head bumped against it. Looking up, there wasn't a doubt in Steven's mind that this massive yellow cannon with a design of the sun etched into either side with the sun beams meeting along the middle.

Steven untied the rope from around his waist and re-tied it around the cannon. "Got it, pull 'er out!" Steven called. Greg, having tied his end to the back of his van, stepped on the gas, pulling the cannon, and basically everything else between the cannon and the exit, out of the storage space, forming a large trash pile outside of it.

"Oh boy." Steven said when he saw the mess. "Hey, don't worry about it kiddo. After all, if every porkchop were perfect, we wouldn't have hotdogs remember?" Greg said. Steven nodded. "Right, let's get this thing to the gems."

"Yeah, that might be a little trickier than we thought." Greg said, pointing to the van. Not only would getting it into the van be a trial in and of itself, but even if they did, they wouldn't be able to transport it, as pulling out the cannon and all the other junk had burnt out the engine.

Between Steven and Greg, they were just barely able to get the cannon into a wagon, and even then the bottom of the wagon bent down from the cannon's weight and threw sparks as they dragged it along the ground towards the beach.

They were moving with more urgency now, as the Red Eye looked close enough to the temple to have a conversation with, if it could even speak that it. They moved quickly, dragging the wagon across the sand, which left both of them sore in a number of places, and making it all the way to where the gems were standing.

"I think that one started to crack it." Lapis said hopefully as Jasper washed up on the shore, Peridot shaking her head cynically as she fired again to no avail. "We should have evacuated the city the moment the Red Eye appeared." She muttered bitterly.

"Guys!" Steven shouted, "We got the cannon!" All three looked over at Steven and Greg, their eyes widening in shock when they saw that they actually did have Citrine's cannon with them. They rushed over, the combination of Peridot's metal powers and Jasper's strength helping them get the cannon over to the edge of the beach.

The Red Eye was getting closer now. Steven could feel the heat coming from it as the red light it let off put an unsettling tint over everything in the area. "How do we turn it on?" Steven asked the gems. "We...we don't know." Lapis said, turning to Greg. "What? I don't know how to work this thing, I don't even know why Citrine left it with me." Greg said frantically.

"What!? How are we supposed to use it then!?" Peridot questioned. Steven stared at the cannon nervously, "Come on cannon, work!" He shouted, hitting the side of it. Unfortunately this did nothing but make the barrel of it tilt over and slam against the sand uselessly.

"It's gotta work!" Steven said, getting more nervous as the Red Eye got even closer; so close to the beach now that the sky couldn't be seen passed it. Steven felt tears start to well up in his eyes as the gems looked down, evidently having accepted defeat.

Steven once more kicked the cannon, though now he could summon no energy to the strike. "I-if every porkchop were perfect.." He muttered to himself, accepting his fate with the others, "we wouldn't have hotdogs.."

The moment he finished the phrase, the cannon began to light up, an aura of yellow driving back the red light from the Eye. the gems, Steven, and Greg all gasped as the top opened up, forming the shape of the sun and beginning to charge up with light.

Steven rushed to the front of it, trying to lift it up to point at the Red Eye. He could only barely get it off of the sand, but then Jasper grabbed on, then Lapis, Peridot, and even Greg. Working together, they got the cannon aimed at the Red Eye just before it fired.

The light it let off was blinding, and everything went white for several moments. Steven could have sworn, though, that he saw the shape of a tall woman through the light as it fired at the Red Eye, which seemed to explode entirely upon impact.

Chunks of red stone went flying. Most landed in the ocean, though a few did crash down on the beach and a few even landed in Beach City, smashing up a few cars and doing some damage to the street, but thankfully not actually harming anyone.

As the light faded, the gems started cheering, "Dude, you just saved most of Beach city!" Lapis congratulated Steven. "How on earth did you get it working again?" Peridot asked. "I just said that thing dad always says, about porkchops and hotdogs." Steven said, looking over at his dad, who was now looking up at the sky where the light cannon had destroyed the Red Eye, a few tears having built up in his eyes. "I told you Citrine never let us down.." He said with a smile, drying his eyes. Steven smiled, nodding in agreement as he wondered what Citrine would think of him.

* * *

 **Apologies if I was at any point a little too heavy handed with the foreshadowing, I just think there were a few points in SU that were foreshadowed yes, but foreshadowed bit too subtly, with I didn't even think was possible until the show came around. But hey, better to be too subtle than too obvious right? Oh, and just for future reference, I will not be doing a Momswap chapter for every single episode of SU. let's be honest, I know Recceba Sugarh claims there are no filler episodes, but there are a few episodes that could vanish from existence without changing the story at all, which, to me, is the literal definition of filler. Don't get me wrong, it's all good filler (Lars and Ranaldo episodes notwithstanding) but still.**


	3. Chapter 3

Steven was sitting in a tall lifeguard's chair above a game of checkers between Peridot and Lapis. The rules were simply. If you took too long making your move, you got hit with a water balloon. If you lost a piece, you got hit with a water balloon. And if you lost, you got hit with all the remaining water balloons.

Lapis, despite the fact that she was losing, was enjoying it. "Of course you are, they're water balloons." Peridot grumbled, making another move one second too slow and getting hit with a water balloon. "What, you like it better if he was throwing metal bars at us?" Lapis questioned, laughing as she purposefully took her turn too slowly and got hit with another water balloon before, "I think you're just a sore loser."

Peridot glared at her through her visor, and looked down at the board with a smirk, "Why would I be a sore loser," Her fingers moved a checker pieces in a strategic pattern, taking out the rest of Lapis' checker pieces, "When I just won the game?"

Lapis, in spite of Peridot's smug look at her victory, smiled, "Guess I'm out." She said, spreading out her arms as all the remaining water balloons rained down on her, "Ah, it feels good to lose." She said.

Peridot just shook her head, "I sincerely hope that is not a mantra you intent to carry with you into an encounter." Lapis sighed, "You're no fun anymore Peri, this is why we never form Aventurine anymore."

Peridot glared, insulted by this, "We don't form Aventurine because you're careless and a mess." She said, her floating fingers poking Lapis accusingly. Lapis glared back at her, "We don't form Aventurine because you're a stuck up snob who can't work with anyone!"

"We don't form Aventurine because-" Peridot was cut off by Steven coming between them, "Guys, guys, what's Aventurine?" He questioned, curious as to what exactly they were even arguing about.

"It's me and Peri, when she isn't being a snob, mashed together." Lapis said with a nonchalant shrug. "That's grossly oversimplifying things. Us mashed together? Right, like how water is just oxygen and hydrogen mashed together?" Peridot questioned. "Right, exactly." Lapis said.

Peridot facepalmed, "Simile wasted." Her fingers formed her screen and she showed it to Steven, "When our bodies are synchronized, we're able to merge together into a powerful fusion gem named Aventurine." The screen showed a diagram of Lapis and Peridot twirling into each other and forming a much taller figure.

"Accept I don't dance like that, and you can't really dance at all." Lapis said. Peridot's screen returned to being her fingers as she formed a fist in frustration, "That sounds awesome!" Steven said, "You two should form Aventurine right now!"

Peridot and Lapis both shook their heads, "We only fuse when the situation absolutely calls for it." Peridot said, "And even then we usually just let Jasper punch it before we try fusing." Lapis added. "Oh come on, I wanna see you guys turn into a giant woman!" Steven said excitedly.

Before Steven could continue asking them, Jasper called them into the temple, "We've got a mission." She called. "Maybe you'll need to form Aventurine for it." Steven said with a grin, Lapis just shaking her head as let out her wings, grabbing Steven to fly him in while Peridot took the stairs.

"We found the location of the Heaven and Earth Beetles." Jasper said. "Beetles?" Steven asked, confused, "They're old gem creatures. They're small, but they can be dangerous if we leave them out any longer." Peridot explained. "So they're just like you when you get in one of your moods." Lapis taunted.

Steven wasn't sure it really applied, as Peridot looked to be taller than Lapis, but it seemed to strike some sort of nerve with Peridot, "Right, well, I'm sure Lapis can handle getting one of the beetles on her own, Jasper, where are they?"

"The Earth Beetle is at the bottom of a boiling lava lake, so unless you've somehow developed the ability to withstand lava like I can, it looks like you and Lapis are going to the cloud spires with Steven to get the Heaven Beetle." Jasper said, chuckling at the looks of annoyance on Peridot and Lapis' face, as well as the look of triumph on Steven, "Keep them in line little man." Jasper said before stepping onto the warp pad and teleporting off to get the Earth Beetle.

"Let's just get this over with." Peridot said. "I bet Aventurine could take care of it super fast." Steven said. Now it was Lapis' turn to face palm.

* * *

"I bet Aventurine could get all the way up these stairs no problem." Steven said as they continued to walk up the sky spire. "I could fly just fine up there on my own if somewhat would just trust me enough to find the magic bug." Lapis grumped.

"It's not my fault. You've been known to, how shall I put this politely, botch up missions entirely when left to your own devices." Peridot said. Lapis sighed, "You sink one island and suddenly you can never be trusted to handle things alone."

"The fact that you don't see what's wrong with that statement shocks and frightens me." Peridot said, "And that's why you can't go up alone." "If you formed Aventurine, Lapis could fly up there and not technically be alone." Steven commented, earning an evil eye from both of the gems.

Steven was quiet about the topic after that, or at least as quiet as Steven could be, meaning he sung an entire song about why Peridot and Lapis should fuse. On the bright side, at least it was catching and helped them pass the time until they reached the top of the spire. On the not so bright side, the Heaven Beetle wasn't there when they did.

"What? Come on why can't anything be easy? Where'd it go?" Lapis questioned. Peridot scanned the area with her finger screen, "It's possible the Heaven Beetle sensed us and attempted to flee before we could get up here." She said.

"Oh, so what you're saying is, if you'd just let me fly up here from the start, we could've gotten the bug and been out of here by now?" Lapid questioned. "Lapis, calm down. The Heaven Beetle can't fly, doesn't move very fast, and has no natural predators. It won't be difficult to track it down." Peridot said.

But the universe, it seemed, disagreed with Peridot, and chose to prove her wrong with a physical representation of how wrong she was. In other words, a giant eyeless bird smashed through the wall and roared at them.

All three of them quickly ran back through the door where the giant bird could not get them. It squawked at them, trying to fit its beak through the door to snap at them but not succeeding. "Okay, I may have underestimated the likelihood of a monster making it up to this height," Peridot said, "Lapis, can you handle this"

"What am I supposed to do smack it in the face with my wings? There's no water up here except the stuff in the air and I can't control that!" Lapis said frantically, "All these old gem structures were used with stone, there's no metal for me to work with, and I'll never get a clear shot on that thing with my blast cannon. Even if I did, I doubt it would do very much." Peridot said.

"Guys, I think we all know what it's time for." Steven said with a grin, practically bouncing in place. Both of them groaned in irritation, "He might be right." Steven's eyes widened as Peridot and Lapis walked to different sides of the room and began to dance, Lapis' movements graceful and flowing, Peridot's more rigid, as though she were embarrassed by the endeavor.

The result was not great. Peridot ended up stepping on Lapis foot. Between Lapis being barefoot and Peridot's metal boots, it couldn't have felt good. Their gems glowed and they started to merge together in an aura of light, but it didn't work, and they both dropped to the ground. "Want to try that again? With less stomping on my feet?" Lapis questioned.

"It would be easier if your movements weren't so loose and erratic." Peridot said. "It's called taking a little enjoyment in life, you might want to try it some time." Lapis said. "Guys, guys!" Steven said, not realizing that he was no standing in front of the door, "You shouldn't fight, I'm sure we can figure out how to-" Steven was cut off when the giant bird's beak reached in and pulled him out of the room.

"Steven!" Lapis and Peridot shouted together as Steven was swallowed by the giant bird. The insides of the bird, Steven decided, were gross, but also kinda cool. There was enough light coming off of the many crystalline structures it had swallowed that Steven could see as he walked through the place. And not only could he see, he could see the Heaven Beetle.

"The bird must have swallowed it." Steven realized, rushing over to where the beetle, a white and gold bug about the same size as a normal beetle, was standing. When he went to grab it though, a massive, blue-green hand shot up from the bird's body and began feeling around. Assuming the bird was somehow doing this, Steven quickly snatched up the Heaven Beetle and ran, only for a second arm to rise up and grab him.

Steven quickly realized that it wasn't the bird, it was something else, someone else. They pulled Steven out of the bird and jumped down off of it, handing on the spire before. Looking up, Steven's eyes widened when he realized who this must be. She was tall, taller than Jasper even. She had long, spiky hair of dark green, with a much lighter greenish blue over her skin. Her outfit seemed to both flow down over her legs and tug around her ankles so as not to limit her movement. Steven could see a triangular gem in her forehead, and a tear drop shaped gem in her back.

This was Aventurine.

Wings of water sprouted from her back, and she held her hands after setting Steven down. Immediately, bits of metal from far, far down below, metal that would have been much too far away for Peridot to control, came flying up. The metal entered the water of the wings, liquified itself, and fused together. Aventurine flew up with her liquid metal wings, which, Steven realized, doubled as blades.

She cut through the bird, which separated into many birds. She flew up high, summoning ice crystals from the water in the air, and lining them with metal for extra strength before sending the hailstorm of it down at the birds. Several dozen were poofed, but several dozen were still left. Aventurine landed on another spire and made a motion like she was throwing something. Her liquid metal wings detached from her back, flying into the center of the flock and bursting, sending shards of ice and metal in all directions, wiping all of them out at once.

The water and metal returned to her back, forming wings again and letting her fly over to Steven, who was just staring with his jaw dropped. Aventurine smiled down at him. He was excited, but now that he actually saw her, he was nervous. "Do...do you know me?" He asked, causing Aventurine to snicker the way Lapis always did, but it was higher in pitch.

"All you wanna do, is see me turn into..." Aventurine sung melodiously, stars forming in Steven's eyes. "A giant woman.." He finished.

Lapis and Peridot unfused, shortly after they returned, but unfortunately Steven still had tons of questions, like who was more in control of Aventurine, why weren't Peridot's fingers apart of the fusion, and other things. It was Jasper though, who got him quiet when she took the Heaven Beetle and placed it with the Earth Beetle before bubbling both. She said, "I'm impressed with your helping Lapis and Peridot fuse. One day, you'll be great at fusion yourself."

"Yeah...wait, I can do that to!?"


	4. Chapter 4

Steven and the other gems appeared on a warp pad on an island Steven had never been to before. It looked relatively barren and sand filled, save for the massive tower made of many pillars pointing up into the sky. There was a strange blue energy flowing from the inside of the tower and up into space.

"What is this place?" Steven asked, looking up and finding that he couldn't even see the top of the tower. "This is the gem communication hub," Peridot said, looking up at the tower with a similar form of wonder to Steven, which was something usually reserved for Lapis, who didn't seem to care, "A long time ago it was used for communication across countless galaxies, a marvel of gem technology. It's been dormant for several millennia, but recently it's started releasing waves of electromagnetic energy that are disrupting human technological frequencies."

Steven looked up at her blankly, having no idea what Peridot had just said or how to decipher it. He turned to Jasper, who said, "It's like a big gem computer. It's hurting the TV." She explained, Steven gasping in shock.

"I'll save you TV!" Steven shouted, running at the tower and kicking it, doing precisely nothing to the tower and hurting his foot from how solid the tower's pillar was. Lapis snorted, walking over and bringing a bubble of water from the nearby ocean along with her. "Sorry Steven, to wreck this thing up, we'd need a Steven," She held out her hands, the water taking the shape of a water double of Steven, but taller with cartoonishly large muscles, "At least this strong!"

Lapis puppeted the strong man Steven water clone over to the towers pillar. It started punching the pillar, and while it was actually doing damage, punching off small chunks of the pillar, it was clear that it was not doing nearly enough damage, and it could have been hours before they made it through even the first of what must have been dozens, maybe even hundreds of pillars making up the tower.

"We could be here all day if we try to take these pillars out individually." Peridot said, her finger screen forming to scan the tower. Lapis sighed, the water Steven dissipating, "I hate it when you're right, you get that look on your face." She said, indicating the smug grin that had already formed on Peridot's face.

"Mock me if you want, but we need a well executed plan in order to-" Peridot was cut off by Jasper, "That sounds like it'll take forever and be boring the whole way through. What we need is Malachite. Lapis, fuse with me."

Lapis and Steven both gasped, Lapis grinning ear to ear, "Oh yeah!" She said, rushing over to Jasper. Peridot looked worried, "Um, Jasper, that might not be the best idea. You and Lapis can be a bit… Unstable when your personalities combined. You should fuse with me instead, that way we can be more careful and-" "We don't need to be careful," Jasper said, "We just need to be huge. Let's go Lapis."

Steven grinned excitedly as he watched Lapis begin dancing towards Jasper, who was took ahold of her hand and twirled her and dipped her down before they're bodies began to glow, merging together into a new body.

Steven's eyes widened into stars as Peridot took a few nervous steps back. The fusion gem, Malachite, stood at least three times taller than Aventurine was, and was sort of like a centaur, with four legs and two arms, though all four legs and both arms all ended in hands with no feet to be seen. Her skin was a lighter blue than Lapis', with darker bluish green stripes across her body like the orange stripes on Jasper's body. Her had a giant mane of bright white hair and four eyes and all looked down at Steven and Peridot.

"Woah! You must be Malachite!" Steven said. "That's right little man," Malachite said with a toothy, fanged grin, "Wanna see something cool?" She questioned. "Definitely!" Steven shouted up to her.

Jasper's helmet appeared on Malachite's head, though it was the same bluish color as the rest of her, and Lapis' wings sprouted from the gem on her back. She reached back, plucking the wings off and raising them up, placing her on her helmet, where they solidified, sharpened, becoming horns on the helmet.

"Awesome!" Steven shouted, "Are you gonna wreck stuff with your horns?" He asked, Malachite nodding, "That's the plan, where should I start?" "Do that one!" Steven pointed to the pillar that he and Lapis had been attacking moments before.

Where even Lapis had been unable to do more than chip away at pillar, the entire thing was shattered when Malachite's horned helmet smashed into it. Malachite lifted her hand, pulling a giant hand of water from the ocean that came over, grabbed the rubble that had been made by the first pillar and threw it out into the ocean.

Malachite repeated this process with the next pillar, and the next one after that, sending chunks of debris in all directions with zero awareness of the fact that a few of them were coming down towards Peridot and Steven. Peridot blasted one chunk that would have crushed them both with her hand cannon, though a smaller piece broke off and hit Steven in the side of the face.

"Ugh, this is exactly what I was talking about." Peridot grumbled, holding up her hand to form a forcefield around her and Steven, "You're just too much!" She shouted up at Malachite. "Maybe you're just too little." Malachite laughed, headbutting another pillar that gave way immediately under the force of the attack.

Grumbling, Peridot kept her forcefield up as she and Steven walked back over towards the warp pad. "What about Malachite?" Steven asked, "She can find her own way back." Peridot said in annoyance, activating the warp pad and teleporting back to the temple with Steven moments before a giant piece of debris landed on the warp pad, shattering it into many pieces.

* * *

It had been almost a full day since they had left Malachite to destroy the communication hub. Steven had been super hyped up when he had returned to the beach before, seeing Malachite's strength having gotten him into the spirit for training and improving. When summoning his shield to practice with hadn't worked, he had settled for just training his body the old fashion way.

And realized, quite quickly, that he sucked at it. Granted, he did still have natural quartz strength, but actually exerting it seemed to have adverse effects on his body. Peridot seemed to notice this, and had tried to convince him to slow down, but he was too excited by Malachite's strength.

"Steven, physical strength isn't everything you know," Peridot said, "If it were, I certainly wouldn't be of much use." She muttered quietly to herself, not knowing that Steven had heard it, "There are other ways to be strong. There's courage, there's charisma, not to mention intelligence and strategy. There's a reason we almost never use Malachite in a battle, she just doesn't know what to do anything but break things. Sure, she's good at it, but that's ALL she's good at. You need to learn to be strong in the real way."

Steven had thought on this matter, and as he spoke with the other people who had started working out with him, realized that what he lacked as a bodybuilder himself, he more than made up for in his skills to inspire others, driving the other people to keep going long after they would have stopped on their own.

Things seemed to go well for the rest of the day, until the tide seemed to go out early, drawn away from the shore by some mysterious force. Looking over, the crowd of people was shocked to see that it was coming from Malachite, who was making her way towards the beach with scowl on her face. "Malachite!" Steven shouted excitedly as she stepped onto the shore, the water all being held behind her, "Good to see you're back." Peridot said through her teeth.

"You left us behind." Malachite said accusingly. "You were wrecking the place, we couldn't exactly stay there," Peridot said, "It was a logical choice to stay out of the debris ra-" Peridot was cut off by a fist firing out of the water and sending her flying into the side of the cliff. "Ow." She grumbled. Steven's eyes widened nervously as he realized that Peridot had been right about Malachite being too aggressive.

Peridot stood, glaring up at Malachite. "You've been fused too long, you need to separate." Peridot said calmly, Malachite letting out something like a growl, "I don't want to. I'm suck of being split up!" Malachite stepped forward, trying to step on Peridot. She jumped back to avoid it and held out her hands, drawing in metal from the equipment that Steven and the others had been using to work out with and sending the weights flying at Malachite. The water washed over Malachite like a shield, blocking the weights and sending them out to sea. Peridot took a few steps back, forming her hand cannon and firing several shots up at Malachite. All the shots hit, but none of them seemed to do anything.

"Oh, so you wanna go now huh?" Malachite questioned, one of her hand-feet grabbing Peridot and sending her flying into the air. Peridot corrected herself in the air, her fingers starting to spin and allowing her to float. Her floating was stopped when Malachite brought her horned helmet down on Peridot, hitting her and sending her spiraling into the ground, where the water crashed into her.

Peridot washed up further up the beach, groaning in pain. "I'm sorry Steven, she's too strong for me. She was right..I'm too little.." "No!" Steven shouted, "I know you can beat her Peridot, you were right when you said she doesn't think, but you're strong and you can think! Show her that you're strong, strong in the real way!"

Peridot looked over at Steven, then back at Malachite, her expression becoming determined as she forced herself to get up. "I..I'm not done yet!" She shouted up at the fusion. "You want more huh?" Malachite lifted up too more waves. "Oh sure you're real strong right next to the ocean," Peridot shouted, "If you were actually tough, you'd fight me without it, or are you just scared of how bad you'd lose?"

Malachite growled, dropping her control of the ocean as Peridot took off running. Malachite followed Peridot across the beach and up a trail to a hill. She jumped off of the cliff, using her finger-copter to float off. Malachite roared up at her, standing on the edge of the cliff, and not realizing the problem with that until after Peridot's hand cannon sent a blast at the cliff, causing her to fall off of it.

Malachite's horned helmet flew off of her head, Peridot's metal powers letting her lift it up, though the size and weight of it was causing some strain. As Malachite landed, Peridot re-positioned the helmet before sending it flying at her, the horns slamming into her. Malachite's expression turned to one of unhappy realization as her mistake occurred to her, then she poofed in a burst of greenish blue smoke, Lapis and Jasper falling to the ground.

"Lapis, Jasper!" Peridot rushed over to them, "Are you two okay?" "Yeah," Jasper grunted, "Malachite just overworked us a little bit, it kinda hurts, but we'll live." "Thanks for stopping her, we kinda lost control for awhile there. You were right." Lapis groaned as she struggled to move. "Yes, yes I was." Peridot said, a triumphant smile spreading across her face.


	5. Chapter 5

**Sorry the chapter took so long, IRL stuff and writing for my second profile can be utterly time consuming. Anyway, before this chapter I feel the need to point out that, even if I don't have a Momswap chapter for it, doesn't mean that it doesn't exist within the story. The events of Bubble Buddies, Steven's Lion, Watermelon Steven, etc, did still happen in this story's continuity, I just don't write it here because there wouldn't really be many changes to things, and I'd really just be writing episodes of the show point for point, and that isn't really fun for me or for readers. Anywho, let's continue with the story shall we?**

* * *

Connie sat by the picnic that she had set up for her and Steven. The plan had been for them to set it up together, but Connie tended to go a bit stir crazy when she was just waiting with nothing to do, and had ended up setting the whole thing up. A few minutes after she had finished, she saw the familiar yellow furred lion walking up the hill to meet her, Steven riding him.

Connie smiled when she saw him, then frowned when she saw his expression, "Is something wrong?" She asked as Steven got down from Lion and sat down across from her, "No, I'm fine." Steven said, though his tone made the statement less convincing.

"Are you sure nothing happened? You seem upset about something." Connie said. "It's nothing, just a little trouble with the gems, it's okay. Sorry I took so long to get here." Steven said. "It's okay, but what happened with the gems?" Connie asked curiously.

"I really don't want to talk about it right now." Steven said. "Come on, it might make you feel better to talk about it." Connie said, Steven sighing, "Okay," He said, knowing that Connie would get it out of him sooner or later anyway, "It started the other day…"

* * *

Lapis was darting through the air, her wings of water letting her soaring high up, Steven cheering her on her she twirled and danced through the air. Grinning at the praise, Lapis flew up as high as she could go without vanishing from Steven's view and let her wings vanish.

Lapis plummeted down, though she didn't appear to be in any danger, or at least didn't seem aware of any. She fell head first, her hands behind her head and her legs relaxed as though she were relaxing as she fell. Steven smiled in amusement of the display, but the farther she fell, the more his smile turned into an expression of worry.

"L-Lapis?" He shouted nervously after her as Lapis' body dropped passed the edge of the cliff and kept falling. The ground was getting unsettlingly close to Lapis, and Steven didn't like her falling that fast without her wings out. "Lapis!" He shouted down at her.

Steven let out a sigh of relief when Lapis' wings sprung out and she righted herself, the wind let off by the force of her wings flapping to stop her descent sending up a cloud of sand as she flew back up to the cliff, snickering as she landed. "You worry way too much. Peridot's getting to you."

"I know, I know, I just don't like it when you or the others are about to get hurt." Steven said, Lapis laughing, "Oh please, I'm not gonna get hurt. Here, look, I can even do it with my eyes closed." She said, covering her eyes with her hands as she let her body fall backwards off the cliff.

Steven looked over the cliff nervously as Lapis falled. Lapis chuckled at Steven's worrying. She appreciated, but didn't really think it was necessary. She counted out the seconds as she fell, and when she was sure she was right about where she had been before, she let out her wings again.

Her timing, though, was not the best even when her eyes were open. By the time she had let out her wings, she was too close to the ground to right herself before she smashed into a rock on the ground, a small crater being formed around it as the force of the impact pushed sand away.

"Lapis!" Steven shouted in fear, taking off down the hill to get to Lapis. By the time he got down there, Lapis had gotten to her feet. "Are you okay!?" Steven questioned in a panic.

"I'm fine," Lapis said, "Well, except for this." She said, holding out her hand. Steven nearly jumped when he saw that Lapis' fingers had all taken on the shape of partially melted candles, her blue skin seemingly dripping down from her hands, but never actually falling.

"Lapis? Steven? What's going on down there?" Peridot questioned, having been alerted by the sound of Lapis' crash. Jasper came down with her, Lapis sighing in disappointment. Peridot saw Lapis' hands first, gasping in surprise, "L-Lapis, show me your gem. Now."

Peridot's floating fingers moved over to Lapis to turn her around. Lapis slapped Peridot's fingers away with her melty hand, but Jasper grabbed her shoulders and spun her around, her expression turning grim when she saw a deep crack going up the middle of the tear shaped gem in Lapis' back.

* * *

"What was the problem? I thought the gems just poofed if they ever got hurt." Connie said, Steven shaking his head, "That's if their bodies get hurt. Peridot said that their bodies aren't really their bodies, their like solid illusions, made of light. It's not a big deal if they get hurt, because their gems can fix up all the damage once they poof and go inside."

"So..what if the gem is what gets damaged?" Connie questioned. "That's what I asked." Steven said, "All they would tell me is-"

* * *

"Nothing you'd want to see." Jasper said gravely. "Come on, we need to hurry."

"Hurry? Hurry where?" Steven asked. "In the past, we could fix damage to our gems with Citrine's healing tears. She could repair any gem that hadn't shattered, no matter how damaged it was." Peridot explained, her finger screens forming and displaying a teardrop falling from an eye, Citrine's, and landing on a damaged gem, the crack in it receding until the gem was completely healed.

"But now that she isn't here.." Peridot's voice trailed off, and Steven perked up, "I'll have to heal her!" Steven exclaimed excitedly, going over to Lapis. "Oh Steven, that isn't what we were going to do," Peridot said, but Jasper stopped her, "It is possible he inherited Citrine's healing powers. Give a try Steven."

Steven nodded, tilted so his eyes were right over Lapis' gem. What followed were several seconds of nothing as Steven tried and failed to force out a healing tear. He blinked several times, trying to make his eyes water, but nothing.

Jasper sighed, "It was worth a shot. Good thing we got a back up." "We do?" Steven asked, confused. Peridot nodded, "Citrine knew she wouldn't always be able to help us, so a long time ago, she built a fountain where her healing tears would flow long after she couldn't make them herself. It was actually originally my idea," Peridot added, "I wanted to have a measure in case Citrine's gem was the one to get damaged and she couldn't heal herself."

Peridot smiled, "Well, at least you'll finally get to see Citrine's fountain for yourself. Come on Lapis, let's get you to the fountain before things get worse." "Come on, I'm not gonna get any worrrshh.." Lapis words were slurred as the left side of her face began to droop, seeming to felt like her hand had.

Lapis focused intently, trying to shapeshift back to normal. She managed to fix her face, but then both of her hands were in the melted form, as well as her wrists. "Okay, yeah, let's go."

* * *

The gems appeared on a warp pad, seeing what looked like a forest of thorned vines. The gems gasped at the sight, though Peridot looked the most horrified. "Oh no, without Citrine maintaining the place, the plants must have overrun the place."

Jasper shook her head, "We should have been keeping the place in order. Oh well, the water should still be flowing. Let's go." She said, stepping off the warp pad and walking towards the nearest bush of thorns, "This is where the entrance was." She recalled.

"Now how can we move the thorns without damaging anyth-" Peridot was cut off by Jasper summoning her helmet, curling her body into her spin attack, and rocketing forward, punching through the bush of thorns, as well as the stone door behind them, which caved in from Jasper's attack.

Peridot flinched at this, "I'm sure we could have found a way in that didn't involved smashing down the doors of one of Citrine's most sacred and protected sanctuaries, but it's not a big deal or anything." She said, the smile on her face, twitching as though she were barely containing a explosion of anger.

Steven helped Lapis walk forward, as her knees had started to turn melted as well. "I'm sorry I couldn't heal you." He said. "Hey, don't worry about it," Lapis said, "You might not have any healing powers but youlla…" Lapis frowned, her tongue and teeth and turned melted and stuck together.

Steven sighed, taking Lapis into the room. His eyes widened at the sight of the massive fountain. It was made of a rare looking white stone, as was the statue of Citrine standing in the center of it. What Steven didn't see though, was any healing water filling the basin. "Where's the healing water?" Steven asked, Lapis making an incoherent murmuring that they assumed was a similar question.

"There must be a clog somewhere." Jasper said. "It's all these overgrown plants, they're messing up the whole system." Peridot grumbled. "I'll go clear it up." Jasper said, walking off, Peridot following her, seeming nervous, reasonably so, that Jasper would break something else.

Lapis sat on the edge of the fountain, swinging her legs boredly as she waited for the water to flow. Steven sat nearby, looking up at the statue of Citrine. The statue showed a tall woman with a flowing dress, her hands out to either side, her face down with her eyes closed. Steven could just barely see the little ducts under the eyes where water would flow from the statue, simulating tears.

"I wish I could have known her.." Steven said, looking down, "If I'd known her.. If I had been around when she still was, maybe this place could make me sadder than it does, and then I could heal you with my tears." He said, turning to Lapis.

Lapis frowned, making a few murmuring noises with her practically welded shut mouth, trying to comfort Steven, but achieving the opposite as the noises demonstrated how Steven hadn't been able to heal her, her legs dropping down as they melted more, causing her to slip and fall into the fountain.

Steven gasped, jumped down after her, "Lapis! Are you okay?" He questioned. Lapis nodded, but as the fall had caused her mushed legs to attach to her arms, essentially turning her into a living pretzel, made it a bit hard to believe. Steven could hear the crack on Lapis' back spreading. She winced, and right before Steven's eyes, her body began melt down more until she was just a face and a gem attached to a mess of blue; a puddle of Lapis.

It was hard to look at, and even though Lapis tried to assure Steven that she wasn't in any pain, she still couldn't communicate, and the nightmarish look of it was more than Steven could handle. His eyes began to water, and a tear rolled down his cheek.

The tear fell, landing on Lapis' gem. Steven stared at the gem, but it didn't heal, and the cracks continued to spread over, now spiderwebbing across the entire gem. "No...nononononono, it has to work…" Steven said quietly, feeling a wave of dread flow over him.

Before he could say or do anything else though, a wave of water flowed down from the statue above, washing over him and Lapis. The next few seconds were a blur as Steven floated to the surface, looking up at the statue of Citrine, then looking over as Lapis, now a single, solid mass again, as she broke the surface, coughing.

"You're okay!" Steven shouted, hugging Lapis. Lapis hugged him back, "Told you I would be." She said with a chuckle. "Did I do it?" Steven asked, Lapis shrugging.

"Actually, we did it." Jasper said. "We cleared out the clog." Peridot elaborate, "The thorns were like a cork, holding all the water back. It was easy to fix."

"Oh…" Steven said, "I..I managed to cry, but it didn't heal Lapis.." He said. Peridot sighed, "You won't get all of Citrine's powers, some parts of you will just be human and that's all there is to it."

* * *

"So Lapis got healed, and she's okay," Connie said, "That's good, why are you upset about it?"

"I'm not upset that she's healed, I'm upset that I can't heal them. What if the gems get hurt and we can't get to the fountain in time? What if they crack too badly to get there? I won't be able to help them at all.." Steven said.

Connie frowned, "Steven, you help the gems all the time. You've even saved them before. Healing powers or not, they'll always need you, just as much as you need them. And plus.." Connie blushed lightly, leaning into whisper, "I need you here to."

Steven blushed as well, noticing just how close she was to him. Steven smiled, leaning forward to meet Connie, closing the distance between them.

It only lasted a second or two. Before anything else could be said about it, Connie yelped in pain. "What's wrong?" Steven asked. "Ugh, my glasses..something's wrong with them." Connie said, taking her glasses off, "What could be wrong with…"

Connie's eyes widened as she realized that she could see, "I..I can see..my eyes they're..how are they.." Steven and Connie shared a look of shock as they realized what had happened. "Healing spit?" Connie questioned. "Healing spit!" Steven shouted in excitement, hugging her close before jumping up, "I'll be right back, I have to go tell the gems!" He said, running down the hill towards the temple.

* * *

 **Yes, I know that isn't how that happened, but it's my fic and they're cute XP**


	6. Chapter 6

Steven was talking on the phone with Connie. Steven always got bored on days like this, no gem missions, no monster attacks, and Connie was stuck at school. Steven really didn't see why Connie had to go to school. He didn't need to, so why should she? Connie insisted that it was necessary to learn things about the world, but also added, "Don't worry, it'll be summer vacation soon and we can hang out all the time."

"Summer vacation?" Steven asked curiously. Connie nodded, "Summer is when school lets out for almost three full months. It's the biggest break you get in school. It's kinda like a celebration for those who successfully passed all their classes." She explained.

"Did you pass all yours?" Steven asked. "Is that really a question you just asked me?" Connie questioned, mocking an offended tone. Both laughed, "Well, gotta go. Class is about to start. I'll try to come by after school, but with my parents, I can't make any promises, later."

"Later." Steven said, sighing as he hung up the phone. He stood up, wondering what he could do to pass the time. His mind stuck to what Connie had said about learning things about the world. Steven realized that he didn't really know much about the world at all, and figured that the gems could help with that.

Lapis and Jasper had vacated the premises the moment Steven had mentioned learning, apparently aware of how excited Peridot would be by the notion and not wanting to be around for it. "Oh I've been waiting for this!" Peridot said, both of her hands forming finger screens as she gestured with her wrist for Steven to sit down on the couch, "Let us begin our lesson.."

* * *

Steven was beginning to regret asking to be taught about the world. After Peridot's lesson reached the four hour mark, he was starting to regret basically everything that could have led to this happening. Peridot had taken Steven's asking to learn more about to the world to mean he wanted to know everything that could possibly be known about the world in chronological order, starting from the formation of the planet.

"Are you sure there's nothing we can do to make this lesson.." Steven searched for the right word, as he figured the phrase 'less mind numbingly, brain killingly, world endingly boring', wasn't one that would go over so well with Peridot, "More interactive?"

It was a fifty-fifty shot whether or not he had just dug himself deeper into the hole or not, but it was worth a shot to try something. Peridot thought for a moment, her screens returning to hands, "Well, I suppose there is the magic mirror.." She said.

"Magic mirror?" Steven asked, Peridot nodded, "It's a gem artifact, an ancient gem powered mirror able to display any event it's witnessed in all of gem history. Not exactly information about the Earth, but important information nonetheless."

Peridot went into her room within the temple, returning with the magic mirror. It just looked like a normal hand-mirror, though there was a purple gemstone on the back of it with a deep crack in it. "This mirror is older than the war itself, or so the legends about it go," She said, handing it to Steven, "It can show you anything you'd like to see." Peridot said, "Mirror, show us the galaxy warp."

The mirror showed nothing but Peridot and Steven's reflections. "Mirror, galaxy warp" Peridot repeated. Again, nothing. "Hm..it has been left dormant for over five thousand years. I suppose it might need some time to get going again."

"Oh no," Steven said, "Guess we'll have to put our class on pause until it's working again." He said, going for the door. "But my screens are still working and we could still-" Steven was out the door. Whatever the merits of knowing everything ever, it wasn't very entertaining and Steven was pretty sure that level of boredom was banned as some sort of war crime.

Oddly though, the moment he was away from Peridot and walking across the sand, his reflection in the mirror blurred, "This mirror is older than the war itself, or so the legends about it go." Peridot's voice said from the mirror.

"Huh? It's working?" Steven said, seeing his conversation playing on the screen, "Guess I should show Peridot.." "Oh no." The mirror showed Steven saying, "Oh no, oh no, oh no." It repeated. "Huh?" Steven looked at the mirror, confused, "Do you..not want to go back to Peridot?" He asked.

"Guess we'll have to put our class on pause." It replied. "Okay..wanna hang out with me?" Steven asked. "Can show you anything you'd like to see." The mirror replied. "I'll take that as a yes." He said, wondering why Peridot hadn't mentioned it being like a person.

* * *

Steven had been talking with the mirror all day, showing it things from around the city, telling it jokes, watching it repeat stuff, and most interestingly, watching it splice together different things it had seen to communicate better. "This-was-fun-Steven." It said, cutting together different clips to pull it off.

Steven chuckled, "Yeah, it was. The sun's starting to go down now, let's head back and I can show you to the gems." Steven said, the mirror immediately replying, "Oh no!" "Don't worry, it'll be fun." Steven said, the mirror replying, "Oh no, oh no, oh no!"

Steven shrugged this off, returning to the temple. Jasper and Lapis had returned, and were currently trying to get Peridot to put away the finger screens. "Peridot, the mirror started working again." Steven said.

"Ah, excellent timing Steven." Peridot said, her screens returning to hands as she walked over, "You didn't tell me it was like a person. It's super fun." Steven added, Peridot, Jasper, and Lapis' eyes widening in shock. "It's..what?" She asked.

"It's like a person. It can talk and remember things and stuff." Steven said, holding out the mirror for them to see it. The mirror was quiet, and Steven frowned, "What happened, did you get shy? Come on, they're a good audience." Steven said, the mirror whispering, "Oh no…"

The gems heard it though, "It shouldn't be able to do that, it should just be following orders.." Peridot said. "Jasper, do something." Lapis said, the large quartz gem standing up and walking over.

"Oh no, oh no, oh no!" The mirror shouted, panicking. "Steven, give me the mirror." Jasper said. "But its afraid, don't you hear it?" Steven said. "Ohnoohnoohno!"

"It's a mirror, a tool, it can't feel anything, least of all fear. Now give it here." Jasper said, reaching down to take the mirror. In a panic, Steven formed a bubble around himself and the mirror, knocking Jasper back and causing her to fall over.

Lapis and Peridot gasped, and Steven fled the room shouting, "I'm sorry!"

Jasper got to her feet, "That boy is in big trouble." She said, leaving the temple to go after him.

Steven was at the bottom of the temple, talking to the mirror. "What's their problem with you? How do I help you?" "This mirror...over five thousand years old...dormant for five thousand years..its working again...still working..l-e-t-m-e-o-u-t!"

"I-I don't understand!" Steven said, the mirror manipulating the image it showed, zooming in to an image it had gotten of its own reflection in the water so the image was focused on the purple cracked gem in the back of the thing.

Steven turned it around, realizing what he had to do. He gripped the gem, and began trying to pry it free. It took all of his quartz strength, but he managed to pull the gem out of the mirror.

Instantly the mirror shattered, and the gem rose out of his hand, a body forming around it, just like when the gems reformed. She was short, with purple skin, long white hair, a white tank top, and gray pants with diamond markings on her knees. Her gem was centered on her chest, and she looked up at Steven with eyes that were reflective like mirrors, "Thank you.."

She stumbled, Steven catching her, "Y-you helped me..you actually talked to me, you freed me..it's Steven right?" She asked, Steven nodding. "I'm Amethyst. Are you..are you really a Crystal Gem?" She questioned. "Yeah!" Steven said with a smile.

"But then...why did you save me?" Amethyst asked. "Huh?" Steven was confused by this, but before he could ask what he meant, he heard the gems coming down, "Steven!" They all rushed down, Lapis' wings, Jasper's helmet, and Peridot's handcannons all at the ready when they saw Amethyst.

"Wait! Don't attack her!" Steven said. "You." Amethyst's voice was bitter and vengeful, "You three knew I was in there, and you didn't even care!" Her body became enveloped in purple fire as she spoke, "Did you even wonder who I used to be!?" Amethyst stomped, and the fire shot from her body, smashing into the three gems and blasting them back, "I'm Amethyst! And you can't keep me prisoner here anymore!" She shouted, turning to Amethyst, "Come on, let's go."

"Go? Where?" Steven questioned. "Home." Amethyst said. "B-but I-I, I-I'd don't.." Steven stammered, confused and nervous. Amethyst sighed, seeing he wouldn't be coming with her. "Fine, I'll go alone."

Lapis pulled water from the ocean, putting out the fire. "Don't trust them Steven." Amethyst said before turning and jumping away, curling into a ball and spin-dashing off the same way Jasper did, though the ball enveloped in purple fire as she did, making steam rise from the surface of the ocean she rocketed over as she went away.

The other gems made it to Steven just in time to see Amethyst leave their field of view. "Was that...was that another gem?" Steven questioned. Peridot sighed, "Yes, it was."

"Steven," Jasper said, "You're grounded."

* * *

 **Yes I know Amethyst's shapeshifting is more central to her than her fire powers, but the shapeshifting wouldn't work for here.**


	7. Chapter 7

"Why?" Steven questioned. "You released a dangerous, powerful gem on the world, and you're asking why you were grounded?" Peridot questioned. "You'd better be thankful that a grounding is all you got!" "Calm down Peri, he didn't know what he was doing." Lapis said.

"Maybe not but that doesn't make the world in less trouble." Jasper said, agreeing with Peridot. "Guys," Connie said, stepping through the door with Steven's father, "You might wanna see this."

Connie and Greg led the gems outside to see what was going on, and they found that the entire town was having electrical issues. And not just static on the radios and TVs, but entire waves of electrical interference floating through the skies, so potent they could even be seen with the naked eye.

The towns people were in a panic. Jasper walked forward and shouted out loudly, ordering the people to calm down. "A powerful gem called Amethyst is causing this," Jasper said. "She must have gotten access to one of the other gem structures," Peridot said, "Most likely the Geode. It's the only item with enough power for an interference of this magnitude."

Steven saw where this Geode thing was on Peridot's finger screen map, and knew what he had to do. "I have to fix this," Steven said, "I'm the one that led Amethyst out of that mirror, she's my responsibility."

"If you think I'm not coming with you, you've got another thing coming." Connie told him, determined. "Same goes for us." Lapis said, Jasper and Peridot nodding in agreement. "I'm coming to," Greg said, "If this gem is hurting the whole town, then she really needs to be dealt with."

Lion placed his yellow paw on Steven's head to show that he was in as well. Steven smiled, glad he had so many around to help him. "Right, let's do this."

* * *

In no time they were all heading out, Steven and Connie riding on the back of Lion, Lapis flying above, and Greg driving his van with Jasper riding on the roof and Peridot in the passenger seat. They'd been going for quite a while, because even after going through the warp, the Geode was a long ways away.

"I hope we can talk to Amethyst about all this.." Steven said, "Gems shouldn't have to fight each other." Peridot got a distressed look on her face at this, and she sighed, "Actually...we're always fighting gems to be honest."

"What?" Steven questioned. "It's difficult to explain..not all gems are good Steven." Peridot said. "All those monsters we fight," Lapis said, flying down lower so she was level with them, "They used to be normal just like us, until they turned into monsters. Right Peridot?"

Peridot nodded, "Yes, but they become corrupted and broken, their forms changing into..those. That's why they're called corrupted gems." "Is that what's happening to Amethyst?" Connie asked, Peridot shaking her head, "Her gem is cracked, but she isn't corrupted at all. Not in the physical sense at least. But the closer a gem gets to shattering, the more desperate they can get for anything that might save them, until they're just as dangerous, if not more so, than a corrupted gem."

Some time later they reached the Geode, a massive black sphere with a swirling mass inside of it, like stars and space wear sealed inside. On top of the massive orb sat Amethyst, her hands on the Geode sending wave after wave of purple fire into it.

"What's she doing?" Steven questioned. "She's overloading it with energy. It doesn't recognize her as a gem because she's cracked, so she's trying to force it to activate and send her to homeworld," Peridot said, "But it's far more likely that she's detonate it first, and if it does, it'll do a pretty good impression on an atom bomb."

"Amethyst!" Steven shouted up to her, the purple gem looking up in surprise, "Go away!" She shouted back down, releasing more fire into the Geode. "I'm just trying to get home, I don't want to hurt you, but I will if you make me!"

"Amethyst, we aren't leaving until you stop what you're doing to the Geode!" Steven shouted. Amethyst glared, her body glowing as she shapeshifted, taking on a much longer, stronger, more intimidating form, "I said, leave me alone!" She shouted, her body becoming engulfed with flame as she jumped down at the gems.

Jasper jumped forward, her helmet forming around her head and she headbutted Amethyst, knocking her attack away. Amethyst and Jasper both curled into spin balls and rushed at each other, colliding and being knocked away from each other like tops hitting each other.

Lapis let out her wings and flew up to strike Amethyst when Jasper was knocked into the sky, but Amethyst boosted strength from her shapeshifted form let her counter Lapis' attack, spinning as she flung her to the ground so Amethyst was basically suplexing her upon landing.

Lapis hit the ground so hard she actually bounced before landing again, not poofed, but unconscious. Peridot fired form both hand-cannons at once, but Amethyst avoided with her spin dash, Jasper just barely avoiding it to as they both continued colliding into each other.

Jasper was thrown off when Amethyst's spin ball became enveloped in fire, knocking Jasper back upon collision. Amethyst circled Jasper fast, forming a ring of purple fire around her that soon became a cycle of flames. Jasper was lifted into the air by the force of it, and knocked into the fire by Amethyst's spin ball.

Now off balance, Jasper could do little more than counter as Amethyst's spin dash attacked her repeatedly, unharmed by the fire that damaged Jasper every second she remained inside of it. Jasper landed hard on the ground when the cyclone faded, unconscious.

Amethyst was blasted by when Peridot's hand-cannons hit her, but she was up and returning fire in moments, throwing purple fireballs at Peridot which were countered by her blasters. The two remained deadlocked for several moments until Amethyst sent a massive wave of fire at Peridot.

Peridot tried to form a shield around herself, one of the many functions of her floating fingers, but the force of the blast broke through and sent her spiralling. Amethyst was knocked to the ground by Lion before she could do any more to Peridot, and nearly poofed by a point blank hyper roar.

Amethyst wasn't stopped though. A ball of fire to the face stopped Lion's roar, after which Amethyst stood, lifting Lion over her head and then throwing him across area. Angered by this, Steven and Connie did all they could to fight back, which mostly involved throwing rocks.

Amethyst glared at them, an unsettling sight considering her mirror eyes. She sent a blast of purple fire at them, Steven just barely forming a bubble around them before it hit. Amethyst poured more power into the blast, and Steven's bubble began to crack.

The fire blast was stopped before Steven and Connie could be cooked though, Greg running into Amethyst with his van. "Is this a normal magical mission for you?" Greg questioned, "Because I'm not sure how comfortable I am with you going on these anym-" Greg was cut off when Amethyst grabbed and threw his van, sending him rolling across the ground before it came to a halt several feet away.

Steven and Connie hurried to Greg, seeing that his leg had been broken by the attack. Steven glared back at Amethyst, whose hands began to fill with fire again. "Amethyst, I don't want to fight you." He said, Amethyst sending another blast of fire at him.

"I said, I don't want to fight!" Steven held out his arm, his shield appearing and blocking the blast. Steven rushed forward, tanking the fire and crashing into Amethyst, pinning her against the side of the Geode. "Please..stop doing this." Steven pleaded.

Amethyst looked at Steven, the hostility melting away from her face. She shoved him off of her and scrambled up the Geode. Steven followed her, finding Amethyst sitting with her knees up to her chest on top. "I just..I just want to go home.." She said.

"I'm sorry, but what you're doing is going to hurt my home," Steven said, "We couldn't just let you do this." "I'm only trying to overload this thing because my gem is cracked," She said, "If my gem wasn't cracked I'd be able to use this thing like any other gem would."

Steven paused, the gears turning in his head for a moment before he realized, "Wait, I have healing powers!" amethyst looked up, "Healing powers?" She questioned, Steven nodding, "Yeah! Oh, uh, this might be a little weird." Steven licked his hand, pressing it against Amethyst's gem.

For a moment, nothing happened. Then her gem began to glow as the cracks that spiderwebbed across it sealed, healing completely. To test it, Amethyst reached to her gem and pulled out her weapon, a long sleek whip with three ends to it. She opened her eyes, which had ceased to be mirrors, and now had the form of normal eyes.

Amethyst smiled, "Thank you Steven!" she hugged him, "No prob Bob." He said, Amethyst chuckling to herself as she attached the end of her whip to the Geode, "Well..goodbye."

Now recognizing Amethyst as a gem, the Geode rumbled to life. A flash of light shot up, and Amethyst was gone on a way way trip to Homeworld. Steven jumped down from the Geode which had stopped all activity now that Amethyst was gone.

"So, Amethyst made it off planet," Peridot said, "What does this mean for us?" "We wait, and we see." Jasper said, though her words sounded grim, less optimistic as she looked up at the sky where Amethyst had gone off to.


	8. Chapter 8

**Before I start this, let me apologize for how long it took me to get back to writing for this. You see, I was conflicted. My original plan was to do the Momswap chapter for Fusion Cuisine or Warp Tour first, as they are the important episodes that come before this one, but I couldn't bring myself to actually write them, because there aren't enough actual changes made to the episode to justify writing it.**

 **I've decided to skip them. They still happened in the Momswap continuity, but the only other episodes for season 1 I'll be doing are The Test, On the Run, Marble Madness, and the finale of The Return and Jailbreak. Let me know in the reviews what episodes you'd like to see for season 2.**

* * *

Steven and the gems were stuck inside from the rain. Honestly, Lapis loved the rain. It was water shooting from the sky, she didn't see how anyone could dislike such a thing. But Steven had gotten sick the last time she had tried to take him flying in the rain, so now she made a habit of staying inside with the others when the weather got bad.

Steven, seeing that she was bored with the boardgame they were player, as was Jasper and Peridot..well, she just didn't understand it, went to get a new game for them to play from the closet, but when he opened it, he started frowning and looking down.

"What's wrong Steven?" Lapis asked, noticing his expression first. Steven took out the Moon Goddess Statue, and all three gems knew the problem. "Oh come on little man, that was awhile ago now, you've more than made up for what happened at the Lunar Sea Spire." Jasper said.

"I completely botched that mission." Steven said, still looking down, "It was the first time you guys really trusted me with an important mission and I…" He sighed. "Oh come now Steven, that mission wasn't nearly as important as you seem to believe it was," Peridot said, trying to make him feel better, "If it had been of massive importance, we would never have used it to evaluate you."

"Evaluate?" Steven asked, Lapis facepalming, "The Sea Spire...it was a test for me?" "Well...kinda...yeah." Jasper said. "We needed to know how well you would do on a mission, so we waited for a mostly harmless one to come up and brought you along."

"And I failed the test.." Steven said, his eyes widening with the realization. "Not exactly, it all worked out in the end, that's at least a passing grade." Peridot said. "Not to mention all the times you've helped out after that, that's gotta be like extra credit or something." Lapis said.

Steven shook his head, "No, I don't want that, I wanna pass the test the right way, I'm ready to go on missions, I know it. Please, give me a test, and I'll pass it." He sounded determined. It didn't happen often, but when it did, the gems had little choice but to take him seriously.

Peridot and Lapis looked to Jasper. The large quartz gem nodded, "Steven's right. We'll make a test for you. It'll be ready by tomorrow, and if you make it through, you can consider the Lunar Sea Spire to have never happened, alright?"

Steven nodded, grinning excitedly at having a second chance.

* * *

"Alright Steven, it's time for your test." Peridot said. They were standing outside the temple, Steven waiting for it to begin, "We've modified the temple to work as our testing ground. Inside will be three rooms designed by the three of each, each of them more difficult than the one before. All you have to do is make it through all three rooms and get to us on the other side."

"If you can." Jasper said, "You asked for a test, so now you're gonna get one. Just remember, you brought this on yourself." She chuckled, Steven getting a little nervous from this, but it was far outweighed by his eagerness to prove himself.

"Good luck Steven," Lapis said as the door opened, "You're gonna need it." She added just before the door closed. Inside was a slippery, wet platform over what appeared to be a bottomless pit.

"This must be Lapis' room." Steven said, looking around as the water dripping down from the walls as he walked through. It was difficult to walk without slipping and falling, but it wasn't too difficult. That is, before the wave of water dropped down over the entrance, causing the flood to rush down towards him.

Steven let out a surprised yelp, picking up the pace to get through the room faster. It was harder, but he never quite seemed to slip enough to fall over the edge. Between the platform being flood and the door was a pit with several jets of water shooting up to act as smaller platforms.

Steven jumped, narrowly avoiding the flood as he reached the first water spout, then the second, then the third. He could have sworn he had undershot his jump to the door, but when he opened his eyes he had landed on it safely. He sighed in relief, and opened the door to the next room.

The next room, most certainly Peridot's, was gunmetal gray, with several turret machines scattered across the floor. They didn't fire at Steven until he left the starting platform, but even then, Steven realized, they turned and looked in a pattern. By following it, Steven was able to stay in the turrets' blind spots all the way to the other side.

"Alright, just Jasper's now.." Steven said, a slight shudder of fear going down his spine at the thought of the room the powerhouse would have designed as a test. He took a breath to steel himself against whatever he was about to be up against, and pushed through.

On the bright side, Steven could see the door leading out. It was at the far end of a straightforward path. Said path however, had several steamroller machines, swinging hammers, and crushers from the ceiling all along it.

Steven wasn't sure what else he would expect from Jasper. He waited and watched the movements of the mechanisms, than ran forward, avoiding the steamrollers and swinging hammers. He got to the crushers and began darting between them, avoiding the devices, until the last one just before the door, which dropped down directly above him...and stopped short, going back up before it would have hit him.

"What?" Steven questioned, stepping back and watching the crusher smash the ground several times before stopping again to avoid hitting Steven's outstretched arm. "No..th-they didn't.." Steven walked back, the steamrollers and swinging hammers all stopping before him. In Peridot's room, no matter what route he took, no matter what pattern he followed, the turrets only ever fired to the left or right of him. In Lapis' room, the torrent of water stopped, freezing in place before it would have hit him.

Angry, Steven chased the water up the slope, never slipping no matter how reckless he was. As he ran up, he actually passed through to the top of the testing zone, and found himself standing on top of three equally sized cubes containing the rooms. Glaring, Steven began to walk over them towards the end of it.

'Good luck, you're gonna need it.' 'Remember, you brought this on yourself.' Steven got angrier remembering what the gems had said to him before he had begun. There had never been a chance of him failing. They'd never trusted him.

Steven walked across the cubes to the end, and looked down at where Lapis, Peridot, and Jasper stood, waiting for him at the end of the 'test'. He could hear them talking, and listened closely.

"What's taking him so long, you don't think mine was too difficult do you?" Lapis asked. "Is it as all possible that he somehow got hurt?" Peridot wondered nervously. Jasper shook her head, "Not possible. He's probably just taking his time."

There was a pause, "Maybe this wasn't a good idea." It was Lapis who said it, but the expressions told Steven that the other two had been thinking it. "It was the best we had. After everything that's happened..he's summoned Citrine's shield twice now, and he's helped out so much, we know he's improving," Jasper said. "But after losing his healing powers, after the Amethyst fiasco, I'm worried he doesn't know it. He needs a win right now." Peridot said.

Another pause. "We're really bad at this, aren't we?" Lapis said. "Come on Lapis, we-" "Oh don't even, you know it's true. We've been doing this all by guess work ever since we lost Citrine. She would have known what to do." "Of course she would have." Peridot said morosely. "Well Citrine isn't here," Jasper said, her expression like stone, "So we have to hope that we've been guessing right."

Steven knew what he needed to do. He walked back across the cubes and entered Lapis' room. He walked down the slope at a slow pace, well aware of the tidal wave that had slowed to a crawl behind him. He didn't bother jumping, just walking over the gap between the slope and the door. He walked straight forward through Peridot's room, watching the turrets always be aiming slightly away from him. He didn't stop or slow walking through Jasper's room, all the obstacles stopping short.

He opened the door and walked through to see the gems waiting for him, cheering him on as though he had actually just passed a gruelling challenge. Steven looked up at them, "That...was...so intense!" He shouted, playing the part, "That water flood came out of nowhere! It took me awhile to find the pattern on those turrets, and Jasper, if you wanted me flattened that badly, I'd have thought you'd have just squashed me by now."

The gems laughed as Steven recounted an epic journey through testing rooms that didn't exist. Steven understood now. The test hadn't been for his sake, it had always been for theirs.


	9. Chapter 9

Steven was sitting on the couch, reading a book that Connie had suggested to him. Reading about the adventures of the No Home Boys had already flooded Steven's imagination with fantasies of living on the road, always being on the move. Said fantasies were interrupted by the gems appearing in the temple from the warp.

Lapis was carrying one of the little orb machines that they had seen the Homeworld gem, Pearl, leave behind at the galaxy warp. Peridot was carrying several with her hand cannon's tractor beam, and Jasper was just carrying several dozen as easily as Lapis carried one.

"Woah, you got all those from the Galaxy warp?" Steven asked. Peridot nodded, "Yes, they keep sending them down, and we don't want them to start-" "Bam!" Lapis exclaimed as she smashed the orb in her hands with her water wings, causing the toothpaste like substance filling it to spray over her, Steven, Peridot, and Jasper.

"Lapis, would you please take this seriously?!" Peridot questioned. "What? We need to get rid of them don't we?" Lapis asked, hands behind her head. "Of course we do, but more than that we need to figure out how they work so we know how to stop more of them in the future, and we can't do that if they're busted." Jasper said, more calmly that Peridot probably would have.

"Why do they keep sending those things down here in the first place?" Steven asked, "Do they want something?" The gems shared a look, and Peridot said, "Listen Steven, a long time ago, a lot of gem.." She glanced at Lapis, "Did something bad to the planet. The scars are still here today really, but we do everything we can to undo the damage done by those awful times. Isn't that right Lapis?"

Steven wasn't sure what Peridot meant by posing the question directly to Lapis, but he was smart enough to know there was something more to the question. Lapis was looking down, as though embarrassed or even ashamed, "Yeah, sure." She said, sounding almost… defeated..

"Good." Peridot said, "Come on Jasper, let's take a closer look at these things." Jasper nodded, and they carried the robotic orbs off to Peridot's room to inspect them.

Lapis went over to the couch and flopped down onto it as though she were suddenly exhausted. "Is something wrong?" Steven asked her, thinking it would be rude to just directly ask what Peridot had been implying to her when she had been speaking.

"Ever felt like everyone around you would just rather you were never there?" Lapis asked. Steven shook his head, "Not really, but I bet that's how the No Home Boys feel." He said, Lapis looking at him curiously, "No Home Boys?" She asked.

Steven nodded, beginning to explain the stories of the No Home Boys and their constantly being on the run from someone or something do to their lack of a true home. Lapis smiled, "Wanna be the No Home Boys for awhile?" Lapis asked, Steven grinning excitedly, "Yeah!"

* * *

 _"It's time for us to get moving,"_ Steven lifted the hobo bindle he had packed. Lapis smiled, doing the same, _"It's time for us to have some fun."_

Steven and Lapis went to the docks, boarding Yellow Tail's fishing boat, _"There's no time to hang around, now our adventure's just begun."_

Once Yellow Tail's boat was out as far as he went to fish, Steven and Lapis got onto a raft he had on board and sailed off from his boat, waving as Lapis used their water power to propel them onward, _"We'll be thinking about our friends as we chase the setting sun."_

Steven and Lapis searched the water for anything, _"But we're leaving them behind, 'cause we're on the run!"_

Lapis flew them off of their raft onto a ship that appeared to be delivering several crates of something. _"We're on the ruuun!" "I don't care about what all the others say," "We're on the ruuun!" "But I guess there are some things that all too quickly go away."_

 _"We're on the ruuun!" "I wish I could say that there's no better place than home.."_ Steven noticed that Lapis' voice grew less enthusiastic as she continued to sing this.

 _"But home is not a place I've ever known…" "That's why we're on the run, we're on the ruuun."_

Lapis sighed, laying back inside the storage crate they had hidden inside. Steven was already beginning to grow wary of the game they had started. He held out for awhile longer, watching the sun set with Lapis before saying, "Well, I'm done pretending to be a No Home Boy."

"Not me." Lapis said, looking down at the water. "Come on, let's go home to Jasper and Peridot." Steven said, Lapis shaking her head, "That's not my home." She said. Steven looked at her for a moment, confused, before saying, "Oh yeah, gems are from Homeworld right?"

Lapis shook her head, "That isn't my home either." "Then..what is?" Steven asked. Lapis grew a bitter smile, "I'll show you."

Lapis picked up Steven, spreading her wings and flying them from the ship and across the water. After what must have been at least an hour of flying, they landed in a cavern of blue and purple stone.

"What..what is this place?" Steven asked. "Home," Lapis said, "Or at least, the place I spent more time and was happier than anywhere else. Welcome to the Kindergarten." Lapis said, running inside. Steven followed hesitantly.

"What are with all those machines?" Steven asked, seeing several large, metal drill-like devices, looking almost like up-close models of diseases attached to the cliffs. Lapis shrugged, "Homeworld junk. That wasn't really what I did here."

"What did you do here?" Steven asked. Lapis smiled, spreading her hands to the entire ravine, "I built it, all of it. Took a long time, even with me using all the water of the nearby ocean. The stone was really dense, but water always wins with enough time and patience. After a few years, the rock gave away and bam! My home." She said, looking around the place.

"I used to spend days just flying around the place, making sure every edge and corner was exactly like it was supposed to be. The place is kind of a mess now that Homeworld left all their gem growing stuff here." Lapis said, confusing Steven, "Gem...growing?" He asked.

Lapis nodded, "Where do you think gems come from man? We come out of the ground." "But why d-" Steven was interrupted by a nearby warp pad he hadn't noticed activating, Peridot appearing on it. She looked around as though already displeased before jumping down to Lapis and Steven.

"The tracking systems said that you'd be here, but I was hoping they'd malfunctioned. What on earth were you thinking taking Steven here!?" Peridot questioned. "Peridot, did Lapis really..make all of this?" Steven asked, unsure what was more unsettling, the possibility that his friend had carved this place out, or the fact that she'd described it as such a happy time for her.

"Oh Steven… a long time ago, lots of bad gems like that Amethyst we had to fight were here on earth. They did a lot of terrible, terrible things to the planet that it still hasn't fully healed from. We never wanted you to see any of this." Peridot said, not noticing Lapis' expression growing darker and darker as she spoke.

"Then why don't you just leave!" Lapis shouted, her wings stretching over and grabbing Peridot before throwing her into the air. Peridot hit the side of the rock wall, but her hand-cannon helicopter formed and let her float down to the ground safely. Upon landing, both hands shifted into blaster mode, "Lapis, don't do this, I don't want to fight you."

Lapis glared, "I wouldn't wanna fight me either!" She growled, flying at Peridot. "Guys, stop!" Steven shouted nervously as Peridot opened fire. Lapis flew fast, avoiding the blaster shots and grabbing Peridot before flying up, holding her body against the stone as she did, grinding her into it.

Peridot grit her teeth, aiming her blasters at Lapis' wings. The blast splattered the water composing the wings and Lapis fell to the ground while Peridot's metal feet attached to the side of the wall, both hand cannon's firing at Lapis, who wasn't able to reform her wings fast enough to avoid the attack.

Lapis rolled across the ground, grunting in pain. Steven ran to her, "Lapis, please stop this!" He shouted, Lapis responding by summoning her wings again, detaching them, wrapping them around Steven, and pinning him in place with them as they formed a bubble of water around everything but his head.

Lapis turned back to Peridot, who'd reached the ground now. Lapis sent her wings at Peridot in the form of water balls, which Peridot blasted out of the way before a simple movement of her hands pried a metal bar from one of the many machines and sent it at Lapis, binding her arms.

"Enough Lapis, you cannot beat, especially not here." Peridot said. If there was more water in the immediate area, Lapis might have had an easier time of it, but the place was drained, and if she was stationary for the amount of time it would take her to bring water to her, Peridot could have charged her hand cannons up strong enough to poof Lapis multiple times over. Even with her water, Peridot could still probably counter Peridot using metal.

But understanding this didn't stop Lapis. "I. Don't. Care!" Lapis shouted, her wings forming again and pulling the metal bar off of her. Lapis flew at Peridot, this time not even attempting to dodge the blasts. When the blasts burst Lapis' wings, her momentum kept her going until she landed on Peridot, her wings forming again and trapping her hands.

"You think I wanted this!?" Lapis questioned, smacking Peridot, "You think I wanted to be bad back then?! I didn't know! All I knew was what I was told, and yeah, I was happier that way! At least back then I didn't hate myself for what I'd done!"

Lapis had stopped attacking, descending into sobbing. "Lapis.." Peridot said, her voice softening as she got up from the ground. Steven, freed from the water bubble, approached them, "Guys, let's...let's just stop this and go home okay?"

Before anyone could actually say anything, one of the massive drill machines, the one Peridot had pulled the metal from, began to tip over. Thinking fast, Steven formed a bubble around himself and Peridot, but Lapis had been just out of his reach. In a panic, she flew away as the machine fell on top of the bubble, blocking their view.

Peridot used her powers to lift the drill off of them, which was difficult even for you because of its size and weight. Once it was off of them, they went looking for Lapis, finding her curled up with her knees drawn in to her chin, sitting on a little patch of stone surrounded by the water of a puddle, like her own personal island.

Steven looked at Peridot. He didn't say anything, but what he meant was clear. It was up to her to end this. Peridot walked over, but Lapis started talking first, "I don't need you always talking about how bad the gems here were. I know they were horrible. I know I was horrible. I hate that I made this, and I know you and Jasper hate me for making it, but it still hurts when you bring it all up."

Peridot looked shocked, "Lapis, I..I had no idea this is what you've been feeling all this time." "You had no idea?" Lapis questioned, her frustration going, "This is everything that I am! You bring it up every chance you get, you wish Citrine never gave me a chance!"

"That isn't true!" Peridot shouted, "I just.. I never for a moment considered this to be your fault. You did bad things for Homeworld, so did I. So did Jasper. Even Citrine wasn't always a Crystal Gem. We made a pact remember? Nothing before meeting Citrine counts. None of this counts. You aren't bad Lapis, neither of us never thought you were. I thought..I thought mentioning it would make you feel better, feel proud that you weren't a part of it anymore.. So much for me being the smart one.. I'm sorry.."

Lapis didn't say anything, just pulled Peridot into a hug. Steven smiled, "Let's go home guys."

* * *

 **Yes, I know, traditionally in Momswap it's Peridot as the focus of this because she worked at the Kindergarten, but I wanted to have the parallel between the Homeworld moms and the original versions be as close as possible, meaning Lapis in please of Amethyst and Peridot in place of Pearl, and this was Amethyst's episode above all. And since we know that Lapis was there to terraform, I think it fits.**


	10. Chapter 10

Steven and Connie sat on the beach, discussing books that they had read and wanted the other to read. Steven agreed to read the Unfamiliar Familiar, a book series that Connie seemed to enjoy, if Connie read the No Home Boys. before they could actually explain to each other what the books were about however, there was a distant crashing sound, which Steven was depressingly certain from experience was the sound of something large smashing into the beach.

Running over to its location, they arrived just in time to see Jasper pin what looked like a round, white, solid light hologram orb with four sharp pointed legs. Peridot held out her hand cannons, blasting the legs off to weaken it before Jasper threw it into the ocean, where Lapis used her powers to crush it with increased water pressure.

"Another one of those holo-bots?" Steven asked. "Have they attacked before?" Connie asked, confused. Steven nodded, "A few times last week and twice this week already. We don't know what they are or where they're coming from." Steven explained.

"Oh we know where they're coming from," Peridot said, forming a hand screen to display the tall, slender gem they'd seen weeks ago at the Galaxy Warp, "It's got to be that Pearl who's been sending them. What we don't know is what they can do or why they're being sent."

"And we don't need to know." Jasper said. "They're smashed, that's all that matters." "But if she's sent this many already, isn't she gonna just send more later?" Connie said. "Thank you," Steven said, glad someone agreed with what he'd said the last three times the machines had arrived.

"It doesn't matter why they're here. It doesn't matter what they do. So long as we stop them, it doesn't matter, and we'll always be able to stop them." Jasper said, Lapis nodding, "Yeah, don't worry about it."

As though the universe intended to side with Steven's point, another crash was heard on the other side of the temple, and the gems sighed, rushing over to deal with it. This time when they got to the device, Lapis flew under it, her wings yanking the legs off before Peridot lifted it with her metal powers and crumpled it like a can.

"Why do they need to take the legs off first?" Connie asked. "Because if they smash the orb before the legs, they turn into spears and start trying to stab and shoot lasers at us." Steven said, "It's not fun to deal with, so we knock out the legs first."

Less than ten seconds passed between Steven explaining this and another thud of a holo-bot crashing into the beach on the other end of it. The gems let out an exasperated sigh and rushed over to it, Steven and Connie managing to get their attention after Lapis stopped it from moving by surrounding it in water.

"Wait you guys!" Steven shouted, "I know you don't like dealing with stuff from Homeworld, and I know you're afraid of what this thing might do, but do you really want to deal with more and more of them coming every day? They sent them one at a time the first week, then two at a time the next, now they've sent three at once. How long until they send enough to cover the whole beach? Why don't we just see where it wants to go and deal with that?"

Connie nodded in agreement of the plan, and Jasper sighed, "He's right. We can't keep fighting these things forever. Well, we can, but I really don't want to." She said. Lapis picked up Connie and Steven and flew them on top of the machine with Peridot and Jasper before releasing it from the water and letting it start moving on again.

The machine stood up and began to move, walking to wherever it and the other versions of it had been trying to get all this time. After a few hours, it moved to the nearest warp pad, and took them to the Kindergarten.

"What is this place?" Connie asked, looking around at the walls of the place, "This is the Kindergarten," Steven explained, "It's the old gems came to make new gems. It really hurt the planet when they did. Why would it come here?"

"No idea.." Peridot said, unsettled by that fact. It moved over to a wall. It was an empty section of stone, no exit holes from gems. It held out one of its spear legs and a holographic version of the Pearl they'd seen appeared, reaching out and pushing some hidden button the others hadn't been able to see.

The ground below them began to move, sinking down to what looked like some kind of hidden base underground. It looked run down, like it hadn't been used in years, centuries, maybe even millennia. Hard to tell with gem tech, which lasted significantly longer than human tech.

The machine held out the other three spear legs, summoning three more holo-Pearls before the main core of the machine vanished altogether, causing the gems and Connie to land hard on the floor of the run down lab. The holo-pearls took no notice of them, walking over to the circuitry for the supercomputer of the place.

"They're..repairing it." Peridot said. Within a few moments, the screen blared to life, Pearl looking over the place. "This tech is really old, surprised it still work at all." She said to herself, her holo-pearls beginning to mill around checking on things.

"Maybe we should ask her what she's doing." Steven said quietly. "This is no time to ask questions." Jasper said. "This is the perfect time to ask questions!" Connie agreed with Steven, both of them climbing up onto the platform, into the view of Pearl.

"What are these creatures?" Pearl wondered to herself. "I'm Steven, this is Connie," Steven introduced them, "Have Stevens and Connies replaced humans as the dominant species?" Pearl asked.

Steven shook her head, "There are lots of humans. Lars, Sadie, Vidalia, Sour cream, even Connie's a human." He said. "I see," Pearl said, seeming disinterested, "Holo-Pearls, please deal with human infestation."

All four of the Holo-Pearls grew dark red eyes and drew swords, rushing at Steven and Connie. Steven reacted quickly, summoning a bubble around him and Connie to keep them away. As the Holo-Pearls slashed at the bubble, the gems came forward, Jasper helmet smashing on and squeezing another until they both vanished, Lapis, ripping one apart with her wings and Peridot blasting the last.

"What? Gems?! What are you doing there!?" Pearl questioned. "We're the Crystal Gems! We're still here and we refuse to let you return to this planet!" Peridot shouted at the screen, firing a duel hand-cannon blast. "I'm reporting this!" Pearl shouted before the blast destroyed the screen.

The gems and Connie were quiet for several moments, then finally Steven said, "This was a bad idea, wasn't it?" "Something like this was bound to happen eventually," Peridot said, "All we were doing was postponing it."

"It is still pretty bad." Jasper admitted. **  
**


	11. Chapter 11

**Because of how little would actually be changed in the first part of the episode, I'll only be covering the end of the Return and I'll be combining with Jailbreak to save time. Two for one, enjoy!**

* * *

Steven returned to the temple just in time to see Jasper standing next to Aventurine. The fusion's liquid metal wings formed together into something like a giant drill, which she sent flying into the sky towards the purple hand shaped ship. The drill exploded in a barrage of metal and frozen ice spikes over the ship.. And did precisely nothing.

Jasper sighed, "At least Steven will be safe." She said, only for this hope to be smashed as well when Steven approached, the shock of which separated Aventurine back into Lapis and Peridot as the ship landed, holding out what would be the pointer finger.

A small pod formed out of the ship and rolled along the finger to the top, where three gems stepped out. The first they recognized as Pearl. "There they are, they're the ones that keep wrecking my holo-bots!" She said to the larger, reddish purple gem standing next to her, "This is the place right?"

The third gem, Amethyst, nodded mournfully, "Yes.. it is." "This is it?" The tall gem questioned. "Garnet, help me out here!" Pearl said impatiently. "You don't need me for this," Garnet said, heading back inside with Amethyst, "You don't need me for this." "Ugh, fine." Pearl said.

A few button pushes to a holographic panel projected from the gem in Pearl's head, and the ship was charging up for an attack. "Steven, run!" Jasper shouted, Steven shaking his head, "I'm not just gonna leave you here to get hurt!"

"I won't let you risk your life!" Jasper said as the ship above them began to fire. "You can't make that choice for me!" Steven shouted back, pushing passed her, "I..I'm a Crystal Gem to!" He shouted as the blast fired, sending out a cloud of sand as it hit.

When the sand and smoke faded, Steven hadn't been hurt; none of them had. Steven stood in front of the gems, holding out the yellow riot shield with his mother's insignia emblazoned on it, the energy of the blast entirely deflected from him and the gems, having left spots of glass in front of them where it had hit the sand.

"That symbol.." Garnet said, "That human, he has the power of Citrine!" "Now to you believe I needed help with this?!" Pearl questioned. "Fire barrage, widespread!" Garnet ordered, jumping down from the ship.

Pearl dragged a finger across the holo-screen, firing a barrage of blasts that scattered the gems. "Why do you look like this Citrine?" Garnet questioned, "Why do you look so weak?" Before more could be said, Garnet was knocked back by a spin attack from Jasper, who summoned her helmet, "Steven, run!"

Silent, Garnet held out her hands, summoning to powerful looking gauntlets that threw sparks of electricity as she ran forward, brawling with Jasper. Before Peridot and Lapis could attempt to help, Garnet pulled out some kind of device. It resembled a long yellow tuning fork, but with sharper ends and some kind of energy radiating between it.

She drove the device against Jasper's stomach and the energy spread over her body. There was a sound like a snap, and Jasper fell to the ground, poofed in an instant. Garnet picked Steven up by his shirt, her gauntlets vanishing, "I don't know what you're planning Citrine, but look: You base is taken, your army is shattered. You have failed!" Garnet punched Steven, the force of it knocking him unconscious.

* * *

Steven woke up in a cold, metal room. It was more of a closet really, and it didn't exactly take Steven long to realize that he'd been captured as a prisoner of the Homeworld Gems, and that he was currently on their ship.

The only thing that was there acting as a door was a sheet of energy, the same energy that Garnet's tuning fork weapon had let out to poof Jasper. Steven reached out carefully, but to his surprise, his fingers passed through it without harmlessly.

The energy tried to spread across his body, but didn't make it passed his wrist. "Cool." He mused before pushing through the field. There was a window at the end of the hall, and looking out of it, he could see that they were outside of the earth's atmosphere, and he could see the planet below.

He hurried back down the hall to find the gems, but stopped in utter horror of what he saw. Attached to the wall were… were Peridot's metal arms and legs.. The fingers and screen were strung up as well, but her head and stomach weren't there with them. He knew they were hers from the Crystal gem star on them.

He tried to calm himself by reminding himself that poofing a gem couldn't rip them apart like this, but his thoughts turned grim as he realized that shattering a gem might. His eyes started to water as he looked up at the wall, what he thought were the remains of one of his best friends, his family, displayed like a trophy, "Peridot…"

"Steven?" The voice startled him, and between his surprise at hearing it, and his distraught mind, he didn't immediately recognize it. Turning around, he saw another gem being held in one of the cells like he had been. She was too short to be Jasper or Lapis, shorter even than himself.

Forcing himself to push his sorrow over Peridot's fate to the back of his mind, he knew he had to help this gem, and the other possible imprisoned. He moved over to the cell, holding his arms out to block the field as the gem inside rushed out.

Steven had to do a double take when he saw who it was. It looked… it looked like Peridot, but only a fraction of her normal size, with her arms and legs not made of metal, and normal, non-floating fingers.

"Peridot?" He asked. Peridot sighed, "Yeah, it's me." "But you look so.. Cute." He said, confused as he looked back up at the metal limbs, "Those aren't apart of your body?" He questioned. Peridot shook her head, "Those are my limb enhancers. I wear them because without them, Peridots are generally too weak for combat. We were gonna tell you about them eventually, honest."

Peridot held out her hands, using her metal powers to pry the limb enhancers off the wall and attach them, making her look like her normal self again, "Let's get the others." She said, Steven nodding.

As they went down the hall, they were stopped when they heard voices. It was Garnet and Pearl, "Set a course for homeworld." Garnet said. "But what about the Cluster? It was the whole reason we were sent here in the first place!" Pearl argued.

"Citrine takes priority, now do it!" Garnet said. Peaking around the corner, Steven and Peridot saw Garnet turn to walk away. Before she did though, she sighed, and..unfused? She separated into two smaller gems, a red and a blue gem. 'Garnet' had just been a fusion.

"Let's go." The red one said, taking the blue one's hand and leading her off down the hall. "Go to earth they said, it'll be easy they said." Pearl sighed, heading off in the other direction. When they were gone, Peridot and Steven went to the nearest cell, blocking it so they could free Jasper, who'd already reformed; making Steven question how long he'd been unconscious.

"Thanks." Jasper said, "I..I'm sorry I couldn't beat her down there." Jasper's voice was filled with regret. "It wasn't exactly a fair fight. Two on one? Please." Steven said, making Jasper chuckle, "I guess you're right. And even for a fusion she was powerful. Her components must be incredibly in sync. You to go free the Lapis, I'll handle Garnet."

"You can't do it alone!" Steven said, "If I'm fighting for the earth, I'm never fighting alone." Jasper said, her smile reassuring Steven as she ran off. Steven nodded, heading the other direction with Peridot.

As Peridot rushed off to find Lapis, Steven paused when he passed the cell containing Amethyst. She was huddled up into the back of the cell, her face covered. "Amethyst? Come on, I'll get you out of here, we're breaking ou-" "Stop!" Amethyst shouted back at him, "Trying to escape will only make it worse. There's nothing we can do Steven, just.. Just leave me alone."

"But Amethyst.." "No!" Steven stared at the purple quartz gem trapped in the cell, wondering what had happened to make her so afraid of Homeworld when before she'd been so excited to return to it.

"There's no helping her now Steven, let's go." Peridot called, having found and freed Lapis. Steven gave Amethyst one last look, then ran off to help the gems find and overpower the Pearl running this place.

* * *

Jasper walked into a large open room. She smirked in amusement at what she found there. "Now, correct me if I'm wrong," Jasper said, her voice intentionally loud to get the attention of the two gems she'd found, "But relationships like that between gems of different types, that isn't legal on Homeworld, is it?"

The red and blue gems separated quickly, the red glaring at Jasper, fire literally coming off of her as frost surrounded the floor at the blue one's feet, "Y-you don't know what you're talking about earth trash!" The red gem shouted.

"Hey I'm not judging," Jasper said, "I just wonder what homeworld would do if they knew." "They know full well that we fuse for missions. Because of its effectiveness, they made the exception for us."

"I'm not surprised they allowed a fusion if it was powerful and was on their side," Jasper said, "But I doubt they'd allow it if they saw what you two were just up to." Angry, and tired of Jasper's taunting, the two gems pulled close to each other, forming Garnet again, "Enough of this." She said calmly.

Jasper chuckled at this, summoning her helmet as Garnet's gauntlets formed. "Well look at Garnet, back together, but hate to say it, I'm never go back down at the hands of the likes of you, because I'm so much better, and every part of me is saying go get her."

The two gems began to circle each other threateningly, "Here on earth we don't follow your rules, so come at me and bring ALL of your fancy tools. Let's go, just me and you, I'll take you both on, just one on two!"

Both gems rushed forward, but now Garnet didn't have her destabilizer, and the fight descended into a powerful slug fest between the two large gems. "Go ahead try and beat me if you're able, but even though your relationship is stable, no matter how well the two of you intermingle, you won't win just because you think I'm single."

Jasper blocked Garnet's punches, driving her helmet into the fusion's face before kicking her into the wall and crashing into her. "You aren't gonna stop what gems and humans made together, we will be staying here forever. You might just come back even if I top you, but we'll always be waiting on earth to stop you."

The force of the fight had caused them to crash into the room below them, an engine room powering the entire ship. "This is where this stops, this is where this ends, if you want to get passed me, you'll have to try again," Jasper counter Garnet with her helmet again, and began driving her across the room like a tackle dummy, "Because I have a feeling, that we will never end, I won't let you hurt this planet, and I won't let you hurt my friends."

Garnet punched Jasper back to get her off of her, and punched lightning at her from her gauntlets. Jasper curled into her spin attack and darted across the room, avoiding the strikes and crashing into Garnet, knocking her to the edge of the ship's engine.

"I am even more than the two of you, I fight with all of earth's might and it keeps me true." She charged Garnet with all of her force, "I am earth's fury, I am earth's might, I am earth's inspiration," she slammed into Garnet, knocking her into the engine, which immediately exploded around her.

Jasper jumped into the air, using her spin attack to fly out of the engine room and take off running towards the other crystal gems, "And it's stronger than you!"

Jasper reached the piloting room, finding that Pearl had evidently escaped through an escape pod. She huddled with the other gems as Steven summoned a defensive bubble around them to protect them from the crashing ship.

The ship slammed into the ground and exploded around them. The force of it had blasted through Steven's bubble and damage all four of them. None of them would be able to fight, but none of them had been poofed or cracked thanks to Steven's bubble.

They crawled out of the rubble, panting, but to their disappointment, frustration, and fear, the red gem crawled out as well. The blast hadn't pofed Garnet, just split her apart. "Sapphire!" She shouted, searching for the blue gem rather than fighting them. "Ruby!" The blue gem called back, rushing over to the red gem and fusing the moment they had physical contact.

Garnet was weakened, but she could still fight, while the crystal gems couldn't. Thankfully though, she seemed to think that Jasper and the others would still be fighting, "Don't..think you've..won." She said, "If we had someone else to.." Garnet was interrupted by shifting rubble.

Moving it aside, Amethyst was freed from the wreck. She tried to run when she saw Garnet, but Garnet grabbed on and held her back, "Amethyst, fuse with me!"

"What!?" Questioned everyone in the area. "Think of how long they kept you trapped her on this miserable planet, don't you want revenge? Please, just say yes." Garnet said. Amethyst looked over at the gems. They were weak already. If she fused with Garnet..

Amethyst didn't say anything, but held out her hand. Garnet took it, and danced with the smaller gem. It was quick, barely lasted ten seconds. The two gems glowed, merging together into a forty foot high, four armed, fanged, five eyed monster.

The fusion laughed, summoning Garnet's gauntlets and Amethyst's whip. The two weapons merged together, forming a massive wrecking ball weapon. She raised the weapon to attack, but when she did, several more of the wrecking balls began to form, wrapping around the fusion's body like weighed chains.

"W-what is this!?" She questioned, Garnet clearly confused. "I'm done being everyone's prisoner," the voice of Amethyst said, as the fusion's foot was forced onto the warp pad, "Now you're my prisoner, and I'm never letting you go!"

The bound fusion was teleported on the warm pad. To where, the gems didn't know, and we're likely to know soon.


	12. Chapter 12

Connie and Steven rushed into the room to see Peridot. She had fixed her limb enhancers, but had agreed to Steven's request of only wearing them whenever a battle was about to commence. "What has you two so worked up?" The green gem asked. "I was wondering," Connie said, "With all the crazy stuff that's been going on, I'm probably gonna need to know how to fight, and I was hoping you could teach me."

"You want to learn combat?" Peridot questioned. Connie nodded, "Anything I can learn to help keep Steven safe. I don't wanna just sit on the sidelines and hope he comes out of it okay. Please, will you help me learn to fight, so I can protect him?" She asked. Steven was surprised to hear all of this, as Connie hadn't told him this much before now. Peridot seemed to approve of this, and nodded, "Very well, come with me."

Peridot pulled her limb enhancers on with her powers and headed towards the teleport. Steven and Connie followed Peridot onto the warp pad in the living room. They appeared at the Cloud Area, a gem location that they used now mostly for training. Steven and Connie looked around curiously as Peridot walked them to the center of the room, "I remember when I discovered the idea of using my talents for the sake of another. I know it may sound like an odd thing to be 'discovered', but we just didn't have any concepts like that on gem homeworld."

As Peridot spoke, her moved her hands, bringing various pieces of metal together to form a blaster. It was smaller than her own hand cannons, one more fit for Connie's size. She struggled to hold it for a moment, surprised by the weight, but then got a better grip on it. Peridot's hands put up a hologram of another Peridot, "This holo-Peridot will be your opponent."

"Level zero challenger, would you like to begin training?" The holo-Peridot asked flatly. Steven gulped at the sight of the Holo-Peridot, not realizing he had instinctively summoned a shield bubble around Connie until Peridot asked him to take him a seat away from where the sparring would be happening. Steven went over and sat down as Peridot took Connie's hands and showered her how to use the blaster, "Remember, _you do it for him, and you would do it again," She helped Connie aim and fire, blasting the hologram, "You do it for her-eh, that is to say, you do it for him."_

 _"Keep your, stance strong, keeps your arms braced. As you're lining up the shot, accuracy is the key. Eyes locked and shoulders drawn, and as you pull the trigger, keep your eyes on me."_

 _"Keep my, stance strong." "Good." "Keep my arms braced." "Right." "And as I'm lining up my shot-" "Concentrate, don't you want him to live!?" "Eyes locked and shoulders drawn," "Yes and be sure to hold nothing back! Everything you have, everything you are, you've got to give, on the battlefield. When everything is chaos, and you've got nothing but the way you feel, your strategy and a gun, you just think about what you'll do after everything's done! And then you do it for her, that's how you know that you'll win. You do it for her! That is to say... you do it for him."_

 _"Deep down, you know, that you weren't built for fighting. But that doesn't mean you're not prepared to try! What they don't know, is your real advantage. When you live for someone, you're prepared to die." "Deep down, I know, that I'm just a human." "True." "But I know that I can draw my blaster and fight!" "With my brief existence," "Good." "I can make a difference." "Yes excellent!" "I can be there for him, I can be his knight."_

 _"I can do it for him!" "You do it for her. Okay now do that again," "Yes Ma'am." "I did it for her, and now you say," "I'll do it for him."_

* * *

About two weeks had passed. Connie's training with Peridot had only gotten more and more intense. Steven had tried his best to stay out of it, not wanting Connie to be upset with him, but the way they'd been talking.. Steven had been starting to get worried. His worries turned into outright fear and panic though when he spoke to Jasper about how Peridot had been talking to Connie.

"That's how she used to act around Citrine," Jasper had said, "Always putting Citrine's safety above her own, no matter how many times she got poofed for it, which was usually about three or four times per gem battle from her just up and throwing herself in front of attacks that Citrine herself probably could have handled with her shield or even just tanking it."

Steven went silent as his mind cut to an image of Connie, who didn't poof and certainly didn't reform, jumping in front of a sword blade of energy blast for him. The mental picture left him with a look of horror on his face as he turned on his heels and bolted for the warp pad to stop Connie and Peridot from doing whatever it was they were doing at that moment.

As it happened, Connie was getting a test; her against about a dozen holo-peridots. Connie was actually doing pretty well, but was nearly blasted off the edge of the arena by a stray shot that Steven blocked. "Steven? What are you doing here!?" She questioned, "I'm not letting you go into battle believing you can just throw yourself into the fire for me, you're just as important as I am, even more to me." He said, blocking another shot.

Connie used his shield as cover, destroying the remaining holo-Peridots. "Huh, that was much easier." She said. Steven nodded, "That's the idea." He said, glad she wasn't completely lost in Peridot's all or nothing mind set. Peridot herself was less happy about this, and approached them glaring, "Steven, you are far too important to be doing something like that. What if this had been a real battle?"

"If it were a real battle, I'd have been fighting with Connie from the very start of it, just like Mom always did." Steven said. The mention of Citrine shut Peridot up quite immediately, "Steven, you just don't understand." "No, I understand completely. You wanted to be there always to protect her, but Peridot.. I think a lot of the time you needed more protecting than she did." Steven said.

Peridot's eyes widened at this. She opened her mouth to argue, but no argument came to her. After a pause, she simply said, "I... believe that will be all for our training today.." She said, levitating her limb enhancers off of her body as she went over to the edge of the sky area, looking over the clouds around them. Steven and Connie went over and sat next to her.

"Did Citrine.. did make you feel like you were nothing?" Connie asked. Peridot snorted at the questioned, "She made me feel like I was everything.."


	13. Chapter 13

Inspired by Connie's recent training with Peridot, Steven had been spending more time training with his shield. Currently he was on the beach, as training in the temple was always either too intense or so easy he was certain the gems had rigged the settings. When he came inside from his training, he found the gems inside planning their next mission. "Are you going to be looking for Pearl?" Steven asked.

"Sort of," Jasper said, "We're going to be looking somewhere she might be going." "Where?" Steven asked curiously. "The Kindergarten," Peridot said, "If Pearl's gone there, she may be attempting to restart it and activate the injectors." "Injectors? What are those?" Steven asked. "Gem machines. You've already seen them, at least while they were de-activated," Peridot used her hand screen to display the massive drill-like machines Steven has seen at the Kindergarten, "If Pearl reactivates them, the machines will pick up right where they left off. They'll drill down and inject gems into the earth's crust. The gems will draw the power and life force out of the planet in order to take shape, and the whole planet will become.."

Peridot trailed off, either because she saw how upset Lapis was getting as she talked about it, or because she herself was getting too worked up by it. Possibly even both. "barren." Jasper finished Peridot's sentence for her when she realized the green gem wasn't going to do it herself. The other two gems nodded, "So we have to go to the Kindergarten and make sure nothing's been tampered with. If anything has, we stop or break it. And if we find Pearl, we stop or break her." Jasper said, "Crystal Gems, to the warp pad."

Lapis and Peridot followed Jasper onto the warp pad, Steven sighing and staring to go outside to continue practicing with his shield when Jasper said, "Steven, I said Crystal Gems to the warp pad." She said again, a small smile on her face. Steven grinned, hurrying over and getting onto the warp pad with the others, "You're part of this team to you know."

The gems warped to the Kindergarten. As they walked, Lapis had her wings out, Peridot had one hand already in blaster form, and Jasper had her helmet on. Noticing this, Steven summoned his shield as well as they moved forward. The place seemed empty as quiet, unhappy as they had left it before, but not any worse for it. "Maybe Pearl didn't come here after all." Lapis wondered aloud.

Looking up at the injectors, Steven hadn't realized he'd gone wondering off away from the others until he'd already done so. It proved lucky however, as on his way back. He found a certain sword wielding Pearl approaching the Crystal Gems from behind. Steven sent his shield flying at her. She turned and blocked with her swords easily, but the noise alerted the other gems, and soon all three were on her tail.

"Why must everything be an adventure into frustration on this planet!?" Pear questioned, blocking an energy bolt and gracefully avoiding Lapis's water wing hands, cutting them up with her swords and running off when Jasper started trying to headbutt her. "I've already got what I needed, I don't need to deal with this!" Pearl shouted, turning on her heels. As Pearl took off Lapis followed her from above while Jasper charged from the ground. Steven tried to run after, but was stopped by the miniature tractor beam from Peridot's hand.

"What are you doing, we have to go help them." Steven said. "Think Steven, if Pearl was trying to turn the Kindergarten back on, the injectors would be drilling, but look; they're silent." Steven looked around and it was true. Despite Pearl's declaration that she'd gotten what she needed, the Kindergarten hadn't been reactivated. Peridot held out her hand, scanning the area. "What have we here?" She asked, using the tractor beam to levitate a hidden door open.

Steven and Peridot went inside, looking around. The door led to the same laboratory like room they had seen when Pearl's holo-bot came to the Kindergarten, but now it had several strange blocks and cylinders of dirt filling the room. "What are these?" Steven questioned, looking at them. Peridot began to scan the dirt, and looked at the readout. "What? No... no, no, no, no." Peridot backed away from the big cube of dirt in the center.

"What is it Peridot?" Steven asked, starting to get worried. The dirt formations began to shake, as though there was something alive inside. "We need to go Steven." Peridot said, bolting for the exit. Before she could reach it, several of the dirt clumps fell from the ceiling, littering the floor with what was inside. Steven's eyes widened when he saw them.

They looked like body parts, arms, legs, eyes, mouths, but they weren't attached to bodies, they were connected wrong, forming unsettling combinations of moving body part. "W-what are these?" Steven questioned, raising his shield. "Th-they're gems Steven.." Peridot said, her voice hollow and disturbed, "Gems.. crystal gems.. shattered, broken.. f-forced together.." "What? Can that even happen?" Steven questioned, turning and becoming even more shocked by how upset Peridot looked.

Her eyes were watering in a combination of fear and sadness. "They were trying to make fusions.." Peridot said, speaking more to herself than Steven, "Fusion is one of the few weapons we had that Homeworld couldn't counter.. they.. they were trying to force these gems together.." The biggest of the dirt clumps broke apart, a combination of several gems rising from it and forming into a massive arm like creature, each finger ending in another hand with eyes in the palm.

The creature began closing in on Peridot, who wasn't raising her hand cannons to fire. "Peridot, Peridot you've gotta fight!" Steven shouted, "I-I'm sorry.." Peridot said, dropping to her knees in a sobbing fit. Steven hurried over to her, lifting her shield to keep the amalgamation gem from attacking Peridot. "Peridot, Peridot I can't keep this thing back for long!" Steven said.

The creature reeled back, smashing against the shield and forcing Steven down, his shield vanishing. The massive hand lifted up to smash down on Steven, but before they could slam down, a blast from Peridot's hand cannons hit it, poofing the gem amalgamate. Peridot stood, terrified, but fueled by her instinct to protect Steven. She formed both hands into blasters and began firing at everything in the room that moved, poofing them all. She was so worked up the only reason she didn't poof Jasper and Lapis when they walked in is because Jasper walked in first and Peridot's blaster barely left a mark on the bulky gem.

"P calm down, what's happening!?" Lapis questioned. Peridot was too worked up to say anything. Jasper looked around the room, seeing the gem shards combined together and Peridot's state. "Bubble them. All of them." Jasper said to Steven and Lapis, "Do not let any of them get away."

It was the next day before Steven worked up the nerve to ask Peridot why she'd broken down the way she had. Peridot sighed, "I wish you hadn't seen that." She said, "Homeworld gems.. aren't exactly great with fusions between different types of gems. On Homeworld, it's considered a disgrace." "But, we're not on Homeworld." Steven said. Peridot looked down, "I've gotten used to using it in serious situations, but.. you can't ever fully take Homeworld out of a Homeworld gem.." Peridot said, "And seeing it done like that, broken to pieces and forced together as mindless monsters.. it's more than I was able to take."

"I'm sorry." Steven said, not knowing what else to say. "Don't be sorry," Peridot said, "Just... be ready. Because if they're willing to do this, I can't think of anything else they wouldn't be willing to try."

* * *

 **For those who noticed or cared, yes Pearl is using the swords that canon Pearl used during the rebellion instead of her spear.**


	14. Chapter 14

It was Steven who stumbled upon the next clues of Pearl's location, and completely by accident to. He'd been at home watching television when the TV began to go to static. It had been happening for a few days now, so he didn't think much of it, maybe the Communication Hub had begun letting off a signal again. He realized that he was more correct that he'd assumed when the static cut to an image of Pearl, a recorded message she was sending out to Homeworld.

"This is Pearl, facet 2, recording on all earth frequencies, transmitting from the newly repaired communication hub. My mission has been compromised and I have been stranded on this planet without a ship or assistance from other gems. I will attempt to hold out until a receive word of what to do from the higher ups of Homeworld, but please, send help before it's too late!"

The message repeated itself right after ending, and apparently was playing on every television, radio, and computer on the continent. "We've got to shut that signal down before Homeworld picks up on it." Peridot said, the others agreeing and heading to Lion so they could warp to the island where the communication hub's wreckage had been left behind. They appeared at the communication hub and found that it had in fact been repaired and was transmitting. "How on earth did a Pearl repair the hub?" Peridot wondered aloud.

"What do you mean?" Steven asked. "It's just.. certain gems have certain abilities, and I've never known a Pearl to be skilled enough to repair the damage that was done here." Peridot said. "I've never known two Homeworld gems of a different kind to fuse together, but Garnet's still out there somewhere. Homeworld's been changing since we've been gone, and I'd rather not see what kinds of weapons they've built." Jasper said.

"Speaking of fusion," Steven said with a grin, "Are you gonna form Malachite to wreck the place up again?" "I guess it's up to Jasper really," Lapis said with a small smile, "What do you say, we gonna mash it up~?" Jasper shook her head, "No." "But last time you said we needed to be huge." Lapis said, disappointed. "Last time was a disaster. Malachite went berserk, she's the reason we can't warp here anymore." Jasper pointed to the shattered warp pad, "I can be too aggressive, and you can get careless, and we can both get lost in the moment. It's too dangerous, so for the time being, Malachite is benched. What we need right now, is to be careful."

Jasper turned to Peridot, Steven's jaw dropping in excitement as Lapis's frown grew. "Peridot, lets fuse." Jasper said with a smile, Peridot nearly stumbling to the ground as she removed her limb enhancers, "S-sorry, been such a long time." She said, sounding practically giddy. Steven moved back and watched excitedly as Lapis just sat next to him, chin on her hand as she watched the two dance, merging together.

The resulting fusion was smaller than Malachite, if only by about ten feet. She stood on two feet, with two arms, each separating at the elbow into four arms. She had four eyes behind Peridot's screen, which had taken on an orange tint. The color of her body was a faded orange with a darker screen in streaks across her body, and a mane of spiked hair flowing behind her, "It has been far too long!" the fusion said, stretching out her limbs.

"Giant woman!" Steven ran over excitedly, "And what have we got here?" The fusion reached down, picking Steven up, "A pleasure to meet you. Name's Moldavite, number one combat engineer of the Crystal Gems. If you've got tech that needs fixing, or tech that needs wrecking," She smiled, the screen shifting to form Jasper's helmet, "I'm who you call."

"Woah, cool!" Steven said, enthralled by the fusion, "And it only gets better." Moldavite snapped her fingers, calling over strips of metal that wrapped around Steven and lowered him harmlessly to the ground. The fusion snapped again and the helmet began to stretch out, the meta crawling over Moldavite's body until it had formed mechanical armor. "Awesome! Are you gonna smash it up with your armor?" Steven asked.

"Smashing is what a.. less tactful fusion might do," Moldavite said, Steven not noticing as Lapis's head dropped unhappily, "No, I'm going to _dismantle."_ Moldavite said, turning to the hub and aiming a strike at one of the inner pillars. The strength of it focused on the metal covered fists caused the pillar to shatter, bringing down a few dozen others in the process. In only three more strikes, the hub was in pieces with no damage to the surrounding area.

"That was great!" Steven cheered, "I do what I can," Moldavite said with a smile, "If you ever need something big brought down or built up, don't hesitate to let Peridot and Jasper know." And in a flash, the fusion returned to her two component gems. Peridot and Jasper smiled, "We were great." Jasper said, Peridot sitting on her shoulder with a well earned smug look on her face. She didn't even seem bothered to not be in her limb enhancers, which was always a rare occasion. The gems returned to the temple in victory, Steven now starting to notice Lapis's lack of enthusiasm.

It quickly became apparent that Pearl was getting desperate though. The next morning, the signal was back up and running. It was choppy, but it was there, and when they returned to the hub, it had been put back together; if only slightly. Jasper and Peridot didn't hesitate to fuse again and brought the place down, seeming to enjoy the act of fusing even more than the actual victory.

The hub was back up again on the third day as well, and though Jasper was starting to get agitated by it, she calmed down after Moldavite had brought the place down again. Lapis had only been getting more frustrated. Steven could tell she was upset at feeling so useless, and so suggested that they stay by the hub overnight and try to catch Pearl when she came to repair it again.

Lapis was eager to help out, and with the hub so close to water, the plan seemed fool proof. That is, until they found that it wasn't the rogue Homeworld Gem repairing the communication hub. As they staked the place out, they saw Peridot go to the rubble, using a combination of her limb enhancer's tracker beam and her metal powers to slowly lift the pillars back into place and repair them.

They were confused and uneasy, or at least Steven was. Lapis was well aware of what she was doing, and called her out on it when they came to the hub the next day. "We saw you putting it back together," Steven said, "Why?" Peridot's eyes widened, and she turned to Jasper. "I-I.." Jasper dropped her, "What are they talking about?" She questioned.

"I-I.. it really was Pearl the first time, I-I just wanted to share a few more victories with you.." Peridot stammered. "Those weren't victories." Jasper said, her helmet appearing, as though she intended to poof Peridot right there. "Jasper, stop," Lapis said, "We're both so much weaker than you, when we fuse with you, it's our one chance to feel strong!"

"Do not defend her." Jasper said, "Come on, we're forming Malachite." "Are you sure?" Lapis asked nervously, "Let's just get this over with." Lapis took Jasper's hand, and they fused together. Malachite glared, smashing her horned helmet into the hub and bringing the whole thing down, then calling in a massive wave to carry the pieces out to sea so it couldn't be rebuilt.


	15. Chapter 15

Pearl was inspecting the Homeworld warp. Her hopes hadn't been very high, everything else on the planet had been busted, why wouldn't the warp be? She found that her assumption was all too right, and the Galaxy warp was as damaged as everything else she had tried. To make matters worse, shortly after she had discovered this, the Crystal Gems appeared from one of the few warps that did work for transporting around the planet itself, Jasper, Lapis, and Peridot already having their weapons at the ready, Steven just looking excited.

"Ha, see it worked!" Peridot exclaimed excitedly. "What are you doing here!?" Pearl questioned as she drew her swords, "We've got a secret way to always track you now!" Steven said with a smile. "Pearl, there's nowhere for you to run anymore," Jasper said, "Just put down you're weapons and-" "Give it up, you're practically already captured!" Peridot exclaimed, firing from her hand cannon. Pearl used her swords to deflect the bolt, sending it back at them.

The energy bolt hit the stone pillar behind them and caused it to fall towards them, held up by Steven as he summoned a shield, making it grow to hold the pillar above them. Peridot rushed Pearl, using her metal powers to make her limb enhancers fly forward at her. Pearl smirked, dodging gracefully and grabbing Peridot's leg, throwing her back towards the others.

Peridot crashed into Steven, making his bubble vanish and the pillar begin to fall again, Jasper having to hold it up. Lapis groaned in frustration, flying forward at Pearl, bringing a few balls of water from the surrounding ocean that formed into fists. Pearl slashed with her swords, destroying the water fists but leaving herself open to being grabbed and held in place by Lapis's wings.

"Hold her there, I'm ending this!" Peridot said, lining up a blast from her handcannon. After she fired, Pearl pulled herself down, the movement pushing Lapis into the line of fire and blasting her away from Pearl, freeing her. The Homeworld gem quickly rushed to another warp, finding out after she had stepped on it that it didn't work. "Agh, does anything on this planet work!?"

"I do!" Steven shouted, sending his shield spinning at her. Pearl blocked with swords, but the impact sent her stumbling back into an uppercut from Lapis's wings that send her flying into the air. Jasper, having managed to put down the pillar safely, moved to catch her. Peridot, too focused on Pearl, didn't realize that Jasper was already waiting to catch her until her tractor beam hit Jasper, leaving her frozen in place just long enough for Pearl to land and get away without getting grabbed.

"I-I'm sorry, I'm so so sorry!" Peridot said quickly, Jasper ignoring her to rush after Pearl, who reached a warp and vanished well before Jasper could get to her. Jasper grit her teeth, turning to Peridot, who practically whimpered at the sight of the angered quartz gem. Thankfully Steven was able to defuse the situation, and they all returned to the temple.

"Okay, so that was a bit of a debacle," Peridot admitted, "But it isn't over yet. Thanks to my hacking her escape pod, we can still track her every time she uses one of the warps. We'll know exactly where she goes and when, then when we find her, we can finally put this whole mess behind us!" Peridot said, even Steven knowing that was a reach. "There, we've got her, lets go!" Peridot said, rushing to the warp pad.

"I hope we get her this time." Steven said anxiously. Lapis shook her head, "It doesn't matter if we do. Peridot could hand Pearl to Jasper on a silver platter, but it still wouldn't make up for the stunt she pulled to get Jasper to fuse with her. I'm not sure what would." Lapis said. Steven didn't like the sound of that, but what with Peridot and Jasper already on the warp to get going, he didn't have time to think about it.

They appeared on a warp near the edge of a forest, an old run down spaceship covered in vegetation nearby, "Ha, she's getting desperate now," Peridot said, "Hiding in an old Homeworld drop ship? That thing's way too old and broken down to fly. She's completely cornered herself in there! Let's go finish this!" Peridot said, running towards the ship. Lapis flew after, carrying Steven as Jasper ran on foot.

They reached the ship, seeing that the forest had started growing inside the ship as well. "Guess Earth won this battle." Lapis said as she looked around they went inside, not seeing Pearl until her face appeared on screen in the center of the room, "You Crystal Gems are so predictable." She said smugly. "I can't wait to be rid of you once and for all!"

"You've run out of ideas Pearl, this ship is never gonna fly, much less take you back to Homeworld!" Pearl paused, staring at her for a moment before bursting into laughter, "Fly? I don't want it to fly! I want it to trap you!" She said, the door slamming shut as she said it. "Activating ship intruder defenses." Pearl said, several crystal shape blasters sprouting from the walls and beginning to fire.

Steven managed to form his shield again, making it big enough to guard them all from the blasts as they ran out of the room to get away from them. Unfortunately the moment they entered the hall, spikes began jutting from the walls, floor, and ceiling, the first of which jammed directly through the metal foot of Peridot's limb enhancer, ripping it off of her leg. She squeaked in surprise and fear, running down the hall with the others to avoid the spikes.

At the end of the hall they found Pearl. Everyone could tell even from a distance that it was a hologram, as Pearl didn't normally glow bright blue. Peridot however, in her rage, rushed forward, blasting rapid fire at the approaching hologram, which responded by laughing at her, which only made her fire more even now that she'd realized it wasn't really Pearl.

"Peridot, stop!" Jasper shouted. "I have to do something!" Peridot said, "I'm the won who got us into this mess just blindly leading us in here, not to mention messing up at the Galaxy warp. I have to fix it!" "Well you can't!" Jasper shouted in annoyance. Before more could be said, the floor opened up underneath them and they were dropped through to the lower floors.

Lapis let out her wings and caught Steven, lifting him back up to the top floor. "Are you two okay?" She called down. "We're fine, just get us out of here!" Jasper called back up. Lapis prepared to jump down to fly them out when the opening closed, trapping them inside. Steven and Lapis tried to pry the floor open, but neither was strong enough. As they tried though, they saw a screen on a nearby wall that showed what as happening inside.

Jasper was punching and ramming her helmet into the walls, Peridot blasting them with as much force as she could. Neither did much more than take a few chunks of the dozens of feet of stone in the way. "This is hopeless!" Peridot said. "All I wanted to do was capture Peridot and be done with all of this." "Capturing Peridot wouldn't make up for what you did." Jasper said.

"Maybe they can work it through while they're down there and have nothing to do but talk." Steven said. Lapis smiled, agreeing. Unfortunately, seconds later the sound of turning gears filled the room, and they saw that the walls were closing in on their trapped friends. "Not if they get crushed!" Lapis said, flying up to the gears and holding them with her wings, slowing their movement.

The combination of Lapis's hold on the gears, Peridot's tractor beam on one wall, and Jasper's raw strength on the other managed to completely stop them from moving. "Why did you even do it?" Jasper questioned angrily. "Because I can't do anything by myself!" Peridot said, "I'm a Peridot. Everything about me, my screen, my body, my metal powers, none of it is meant for combat. I'm just a Peridot, and I can't even safely step outside without these extra parts on me. And then I see you, so powerful, so sure of everything, I just.. when I felt what it was like, I needed to feel it again so I didn't have to feel so helpless."

"You're not helpless," Jasper said, "You're brain and metal powers have saved us more often than my strength ever could. My weapon might be a helmet, but it isn't like it's protecting anything valuable up there," Jasper said, Peridot nearly gasping from the sound of Jasper making an actual joke, "I loved our fusion to, because I got to feel like for once I was more than a big muscly tool for fixing problems without really understanding how or why. But then that turned out to be a trick I didn't see coming.."

"I'm sorry.." Peridot said softly. The gears broke free from Lapis's grip, and the walls slowly began moving together again. "There's only one way out of this Peridot." Jasper said. "Only if you're sure." She said, Jasper nodding and reaching for her hand.

Moments later the floor was smashed through as Moldavite stepped out. She looked down at Lapis and Steven, who were shocked to see her, and leaned down to talk to them, "I'm sorry about what happened before. If I'd known why Peridot was forming me.. well, I think Jasper and her are doing better now seeing as I'm here. If either of them get out of hand again, give them a smack across the head for me." The fusion chuckled before vanishing back into Jasper and Lapis.

"Pearl got away while we were trying to save you." Steven said. "It's alright Steven, we'll get her next time," Peridot said, turning to Jasper, "Right?" The orange gem nodded, "Right."


	16. Chapter 16

Steven woke with a jolt of shock as he was grabbed from his bed, his mouth covered as he was pulled out of his room and to the warp pad by Pearl. They appeared at the Galaxy Warp, Steven struggling out of her grip. "Enough of this!" Pearl said, annoyed. She summoned two holo-Pearls to hold Steven in place. "What to you want from me!?" Steven questioned.

"I want to get off of this lousy gem forsaken planet!" Pearl shouted, "But I've got no ship, no machines, and no response from Pink Diamond!" She took a moment to try and calm herself, "I know you fixed Amethyst's gem. Whatever you did to her, you have to do it to the Homeworld warp. Or else!" She said, taking out her swords and holding them threateningly at Steven.

Steven whimpered, "O-okay, just give me a second, it's hard to focus when I'm scared." He took a deep breath, licked his hand, and then pressed his hand against the Homeworld warp. A moment passed, but nothing seemed to happen. Pearl waited, but frowned, "That was it? That didn't do anything!" She said. "Yeah.. it doesn't always work." Steven admitted.

This seemed to make something snap inside the Homeworld gem. She started laughing quietly to herself before stumbling back into a sitting position as her laughter turned to sobbing, "That was it.. this was my last shot.. I'm gonna die here.." She said, drawing her legs in to her chest in fear. "Hey, come on, Earth isn't that bad." Steven said, unable to resist his urge to comfort people.

"It doesn't matter what Earth is like," Pearl said, "It's not gonna be like anything soon!" "What?" Steven questioned, confused by the statement. Before any kind of explanation could be given, one of the warp pads activated, Jasper, Lapis, and Peridot appearing. "There he is!" Peridot shouted, firing a hand blast at Pearl. Pearl deflected with her swords, "Agh! Why can't you traitors just leave me alone!?" She got to her feet and made a beeline for the next functional warp, getting cut off by Lapis flying overhead and landed on it, wings poised to strike.

Pearl backpedaled and turned around, swinging her swords at Jasper, only to find that they had practically no effect on the bulky gem. "W-wait, you need me, I'm the only one who knows about the-" Pearl was cut off by Jasper bringing her helmeted head down hard, poofing the Homeworld gem in a single powerful strike. Her swords dropped to the ground.

Peridot picked them up, "Were these not her gem weapons?" Peridot wondered as Lapis grabbed them with her wings and threw them over the edge of the Galaxy warp and into the water below, "Oop~" She snickered as Jasper bubbled Pearl and sent her off to the temple. "She was scared about something, she said she knows about out something that's goings to happen." Steven said.

"Desperate lies from a gem who knew she couldn't fight her way out of the mess she'd gotten herself into." Jasper said, "Don't worry about her Steven." Steven nodded, but found it hard not to. No sooner had he gotten back to his bed was he thinking about what Pearl had said before she'd been poofed. 'I'm the only one who knows about the...' "The what?" Steven wondered aloud. He knew there was only one way he was gonna be able to figure it out, and the gems were not going to like it.

But he had to try, on the off chance that the Homeworld gem was telling the truth. He snuck out of his room and into the temple's bubble room. It only look him a moment of searching before he found the smooth oval shape of Pearl's gem. He climbed up to get to the bubble, bringing it down and popping it a bit more clumsily than he had intended, but it got the job done.

Pearl reformed, slashing with the swords she no longer had, "Cluster you rebellious undercooked traitors!" Pearl blinked when she realized where she was, "Where..?" Was all she managed to asked, her train of thought, barely formed, already trailing off when she saw the dozens if not hundreds of bubbled gems. "I freed you." Steven said. "And why would you do that?" She questioned, suspicious.

"Because I think you know something, something big, and the only way anything's gonna get done about it is if you tell me." Steven said. Pearl sighed, "It was my mission, the reason I was sent to this pitiful rock in the first place. I was to check on the status of the Cluster. Just in and out before it hatched. I wasn't supposed to get trapped here! But now I am.. and it's going to emerge, and we'll all be shattered!"

"Calm down, calm down," Steven said, "Just take it from the top and explain. What is the Cluster?" He asked. "Are you sure you want to know?" Pearl asked, Steven nodding. "Are you really sure?" She repeated. Again, Steven nodded. Pearl sighed, "Alright, listening carefully.." Pearl was quiet for a second, and then a holo-pearl formed and tackled Steven to the ground. It only lasted a second before fading, but when it had, Pearl had already climbed out of the bubble room and into the house.

"Stop, they're gonna see you!" Steven shouted, but it was too late. Pearl had ran into the living room, the three Crystal Gems just looking at her. Pearl froze for a moment before pointing in the other direction, "Look, over there! Another planet to betray!" She said, the three gems taking out their weapons. Jasper and Peridot blocked the door, Lapis guarding the windows. With nowhere else to go, Pearl ran to the nearest door, closing and locking it behind her.

"Should we tell her that's the bathroom?" Peridot asked.


	17. Chapter 17

**Before you say it, yes, I've skipped quite a few episodes of the show to get to this point. But the thing is, not only would not much change with this being the Momswap-verse, I'm not sure a lot of it would even happen. Pearl wouldn't question Peridot's building ability with their roles in the story reversed, and Peridot would actually help raise Pearl up instead. Lapis isn't defective, nor even from the Earth Kindergarten, Jasper isn't a fusion, so basically none of the Birthday bomb even happens. What does happen though, is a certain fusion fight..**

* * *

When the gems felt the shockwaves in the ground, they thought at first that it was the Cluster starting to emerge. When Steven woke however, he told them that his powers had activated in his sleep, and he'd seen her, Sugilite, appearing on Mask Island. She wasn't free yet, still struggling against Amethyst's chains, but she would be soon, and nothing good would come of it if she did.

The gems instructed Steven to stay with Pearl by the drill they had been building to get to the Cluster, and headed off to the nearest warp pad. Steven managed to say still for all of ten seconds before getting up and following them. Not alone of course, Connie had been staying with them to help work on the drill, and fight just in case they were attacked by corrupteds or amalgam gems. She picked up the blaster Peridot had taught her to use and ran to the warp pad with Steven.

When they got to Mask island, Jasper, Peridot, and Lapis were dancing together, fusing. The sight of the three gem fusion was incredible. She stood even taller than Malachite, her coloration a mix of dull blues and greens with splotches of orange across her body. She stood on four legs, holding her up almost like a standing lamp. She had four arms on her body as well, and long spiked hair. She looked out of four eyes, glaring at Sugilite as she finally broke free of the chains.

"Heliotrope." Steven said softly, "The gems told me about her once before, but I've never seen her in person.." He said to Connie. Both of them were enthralled by the sight as the two fusions moved closer to each other. "We don't have to fight," Heliotrope called to Sugilite, "Just unfuse and we can end this." Sugilite laughed, "What's wrong? I thought a fair fight was what you wanted, three on three!"

Sugilite summoned her wrecking ball, swinging it at Heliotrope. The Crystal Gem fusion was knocked back by the strike, but only barely. Lapis's wings and Jasper's helmet appeared on her, then with a glow, Peridot's metal powers connected. The armor that Moldavite had used appeared, but was liquid metal like Aventurine's wings. The liquid metal also formed Malachite's horned helmet, which now had four sharp horns instead of two. "We warned you." Heliotrope said, pulling the wrecking ball's cord and causing Sugilite to come flying at her.

Sugilite curled into a ball, spinning when her collided with Heliotrope, who blocked with the liquid metal armor on her arms. She slammed Sugilite into the ground, lifting her foot, with solidified into an iron boot before she stomped down hard. Sugilite groaned in pain, but grabbed Heliotrope's legs, one hand grabbing all four legs and throwing her into the air. Sugilite stood and swung her wrecking ball.

Heliotrope managed to stop herself from falling with her rings, but couldn't react fast enough to avoid the wrecking ball, and was brought down to the ground hard, the force of her landing destroying the warp pad. Sugilite moved forward to pursue Heliotrope, and Steven and Connie turned to each other, nodding as they both knew what they needed to do.

Heliotrope got up, just barely countering a two handed uppercut from Sugilite and having her own two punches blocked by Sugilite. Sugilite's hands began to heat up, catching purple fire and boiling the metal. Heliotrope grit her teeth in pain, attempting to force Sugilite back anyway. She managed to push her back, forcing the liquid metal to spread over her arms and swinging Sugilite across the island. She spread her wings and jumped into the air, spinning down at where Sugilite landed.

Two of Sugilite's arms wrapped around each other, spinning as they punched Heliotrope, handing her flying back into a Cliffside. The impact caused boulders to rain down over her. By itself it didn't do much, but it did distract her while Sugilite wound up. She let out two wrecking balls, letting purple fire cover both of them completely before spin balling with both of them, turning herself into a massive burning cannon ball and launching at Heliotrope.

The crash broke Heliotrope through the cliff, letting Sugilite pin her with her both wrecking balls prepared to strike and finish her off. "Nice try, but there's only room enough for one fusion on this garbage planet." She said. She swung her wrecking balls, only for a blast of energy to shatter the both of them mid-swing. She looked over in confusion, getting a flying shield directly to the eyes.

Sugilite stumbled back, growling in anger as she reached to summon another wrecking ball, her arm pushed back by another blast from Stevonnie's blaster. Peridot had done good work making it for Connie, and as Stevonnie, the higher power settings could be activated. Sugilite started walking towards where Stevonnie was standing on the cliff, the blast not doing much now that she was expecting it.

But with her attention on Stevonnie, she didn't notice Heliotrope until she'd been grabbed, the liquid metal spreading over her body like a straight jacket. Heliotrope threw her into the water, chains of water and ice holding Sugilite in place as Heliotrope flew into the air, curling into a spin ball covered in metal spikes. She crashed so hard into Sugilite the impact was probably even felt by Pearl back at the barn.

Sugilite was poofed, reduced back to Garnet and Amethyst. Heliotrope caught them both and returned to the shore, unfusing almost instantly with a groan of pain. Staying in such a powerful fusion for so long had overworked their bodies. Lapis couldn't even summon her wings. But they were all still in one piece, and they'd finally gotten Amethyst back from fusion she'd trapped herself in for them.

Stevonnie went over to them, but before they could even start celebrating, the ground began to shake again. "What's happening?" Stevonnie questioned, as the ground cracked. Jasper managed to just barely grab Amethyst before she fell with Garnet into the crack splintering across the ground. "We weren't feeling Sugilite's struggling before," Peridot said, "We were feeling the Cluster this whole time!"

"What do we do?" Stevonnie question, looking at Jasper in confusion. Jasper had bubbled Stevonnie. "The warp pad was destroyed in the battle, you have to get back to the drill." She said, "Use the warp pad in the temple to get back to Pearl and the drill. Save the earth, we'll be fine." Stevonnie's eyes had started welling up, but with Connie's logical mind tempering Steven's emotion, Stevonnie understood that Jasper was right. "We love you." Jasper said before tapping the top of the bubble and sending it away.

* * *

 **Who else thought Alexandrite would have been even more amazing if we hadn't seen her in Fusion Cuisine?**


End file.
